To Mæcenas: Book I: , Ode the Thirty-First
LEUCONOE, cease presumptuous to inquireOf grave Diviner, if successive yearsOnward shall roll, ere yet the funeral pyre,For thee and me, the hand of Friendship rears!Ah rather meet, with gay and vacant brow,Whatever youth, and time, health, love, and fate allow;
If many winters on the naked treesDrop in our sight the paly wreaths of frost,Or this for us the last, that from the seasHurls the loud flood on the resounding coast.--Short since thou know'st the longest vital line,Nurse the near hope, and pour the rosy wine.
E'en while we speak our swiftly-passing YouthStretches its wing to cold Oblivion's shore;Then shall the Future terrify, or sooth,Whose secrets no vain foresight can explore?The Morrow's faithless promise disavow,And seize, thy only boast, the GOLDEN NOW.
What asks the POET, when he poursHis first libation in the Delphic Bowers?Duteous before the altar standing,With lively hope his soul expanding,O! what demands he, when the crimson wineFlows sparkling from the vase, and laves the golden shrine?
Not the rich and swelling grainThat yellows o'er Sardinia's isle;Nor snowy herds, slow winding thro' the plain,When warm Calabria's rosy mornings smile;Nor gold, nor gems, that India yields,Nor yet those fair and fertile fields,Which, thro' their flow'ry banks as calm he glides,The silent Liris' azure stream divides.
Let those, for whom kind fortune stillLeads lavish tendrils o'er the sloping hill,Let such, with care their vineyard dressing,Their bursting grapes assiduous pressing,Gather, self-gratulant, the costly store,And of the future year propitious suns implore!
May luscious wines, in cups of gold,Oft for the wealthy Merchant flow!Nor let cold Thrift those plenteous draughts withholdThat prosperous Commerce shall again bestow.The flowing bowl he safely drains,Since every favouring God ordainsThat more than once, within the circling year,His prow shall o'er the smooth Atlantic steer.
Me, let tawny olives feed!Me, lenient mallows from the simple mead!Son of Latona, grant the blessing,That, a cloudless mind possessing,And not infirm of frame, in soft decay,Cheer'd by the breathing lyre, my life may pass away!
Words in this poem 16
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- pyre n.
- A funeral pile; a combustible heap on which the dead are burned; hence, any pile to be burnt. [L. pure, Gr. Fire.]
- paly a.
- Pale; wanting color; dim. Shak. Whittier. [From Pale, a.]
- terrify v. t.
- To make terrible. [L. terrere to frighten + -fy: cf. F. terrifier, L. terrificare. See Terrific, and -fy.]
- sooth a.
- True; faithful; trustworthy. [OE. soth, AS. s, for san; akin to OS. s, OHG. sand, Icel. sannr, Sw. sann, Dan. sand, Skr. sat, sant, real, genuine, present, being; properly p. pr. from a root]
- explore v. t.
- To seek for or after; to strive to attain by search; to look wisely and carefully for. [L. explorare to explore; ex out+plorare to cry out aloud,prob. orig., to cause to flow; perh. akin to E. flow: cf. F. explorer.]
- libation n.
- The act of pouring a liquid or liquor, usually wine, either on the ground or on a victim in sacrifice, in honor of some deity; also, the wine or liquid thus poured out. [L. libatio, fr. libare to take a little from anything, to taste, to pour out as an offering: cf. F. libation.]
- delphic a.
- Of or relating to Delphi, or to the famous oracle of that place. [L. Delphicus, fr. Gr. Delphi, a town of Phocis, in Greece, now Kastri.]
- duteous a.
- Fulfilling duty; dutiful; having the sentiments due to a superior, or to one to whom respect or service is owed; obedient; as, a duteous son or daughter. [From Duty.]
- yellows n.
- A disease of the bile in horses, cattle, and sheep, causing yellowness of the eyes; jaundice.
- isle v. t.
- To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
- snowy a.
- White like snow.
- vineyard n.
- An inclosure or yard for grapevines; a plantation of vines producing grapes. [For OE. winyard, AS. wingeard; influenced by E. vine. See Wine, and Yard an inclosure.]
- luscious a.
- Sweet; delicious; very grateful to the taste; toothsome; excessively sweet or rich. [Prob. for lustious, fr. lusty, or perh. a corruption of luxurious. Cf. Lush, Lusty.]
- mallows n.
- A genus of plants (Malva) having mucilaginous qualities. See Malvaceous. [OE. malwe, AS. mealwe, fr. L. malva, akin to Gr. mala`chh; cf. mala`ssein to soften, malako`s soft. Named either from its softening or relaxing properties, or f]
- cloudless a.
- Without a cloud; clear; bright.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Mæcenas: Book I: , Ode the Thirty-First is in the public domain. This text is taken from Original sonnets on various subjects; and odes paraphrased from Horace, Project Gutenberg ebook #27663; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Anna Seward, To Mæcenas: Book I: , Ode the Thirty-First, in Original Sonnets on Various Subjects (1799), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seward-sonnets/to-m-cenas-book-i-ode-the-thirty-first.html, id L09829.
Form and metre
To Mæcenas: Book I: , Ode the Thirty-First is 52 lines in 8 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 58% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.7 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 21% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -A-ABB inquire · yearsA · pyre · rearsA · browB · allowB
- 2 A-A-BB treesA · frost · seasA · coast · lineB · wineB
- 3 ABABCC youthA · shoreB · soothA · exploreB · disavowC · nowC
- 4 --AABB pours · bowers · standingA · expandingA · wineB · shrineB
- 5 ABABCCDD grainA · isleB · plainA · smileB · yieldsC · fieldsC · glidesD · dividesD
- 6 AABBCC stillA · hillA · dressingB · pressingB · storeC · imploreC
- 7 ABABCCDD goldA · flowB · withholdA · bestowB · drainsC · ordainsC · yearD · steerD
- 8 AABBCC feedA · meadA · blessingB · possessingB · decayC · awayC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| LEUCONOE, cease presumptuous to inquire | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| Of grave Diviner, if successive years | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Onward shall roll, ere yet the funeral pyre, | 10 | /˘·····/˘/ |
| For thee and me, the hand of Friendship rears! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Ah rather meet, with gay and vacant brow, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Whatever youth, and time, health, love, and fate allow; | 12 | ·/˘·······˘/ |
| If many winters on the naked trees | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Drop in our sight the paly wreaths of frost, | 10 | ··/··/˘··· |
| Or this for us the last, that from the seas | 10 | ·········· |
| Hurls the loud flood on the resounding coast.-- | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Short since thou know'st the longest vital line, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Nurse the near hope, and pour the rosy wine. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| E'en while we speak our swiftly-passing Youth | 10 | ····//˘/˘· |
| Stretches its wing to cold Oblivion's shore; | 10 | /˘····˘/˘· |
| Then shall the Future terrify, or sooth, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Whose secrets no vain foresight can explore? | 10 | ·/˘··/··˘/ |
| The Morrow's faithless promise disavow, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| And seize, thy only boast, the GOLDEN NOW. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| What asks the POET, when he pours | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| His first libation in the Delphic Bowers? | 11 | ··˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Duteous before the altar standing, | 10 | /˘˘···/˘/˘ |
| With lively hope his soul expanding, | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| O! what demands he, when the crimson wine | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Flows sparkling from the vase, and laves the golden shrine? | 12 | ·/˘······/˘· |
| Not the rich and swelling grain | 7 | ····/˘· |
| That yellows o'er Sardinia's isle; | 9 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘· |
| Nor snowy herds, slow winding thro' the plain, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| When warm Calabria's rosy mornings smile; | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| Nor gold, nor gems, that India yields, | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| Nor yet those fair and fertile fields, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Which, thro' their flow'ry banks as calm he glides, | 10 | ·········· |
| The silent Liris' azure stream divides. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Let those, for whom kind fortune still | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Leads lavish tendrils o'er the sloping hill, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Let such, with care their vineyard dressing, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Their bursting grapes assiduous pressing, | 9 | ·/˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| Gather, self-gratulant, the costly store, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| And of the future year propitious suns implore! | 12 | ···/˘·˘/˘·˘/ |
| May luscious wines, in cups of gold, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Oft for the wealthy Merchant flow! | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Nor let cold Thrift those plenteous draughts withhold | 11 | ·····/˘˘·˘/ |
| That prosperous Commerce shall again bestow. | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘/ |
| The flowing bowl he safely drains, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Since every favouring God ordains | 10 | ·/˘˘/˘˘·˘/ |
| That more than once, within the circling year, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| His prow shall o'er the smooth Atlantic steer. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Me, let tawny olives feed! | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Me, lenient mallows from the simple mead! | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Son of Latona, grant the blessing, | 9 | ··˘/˘··/˘ |
| That, a cloudless mind possessing, | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| And not infirm of frame, in soft decay, | 10 | ··˘/····˘/ |
| Cheer'd by the breathing lyre, my life may pass away! | 12 | ···/˘·····˘/ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.