Nomad Exquisite
As the immense dew of FloridaBrings forthThe big-finned palmAnd green vine angering for life,
As the immense dew of FloridaBrings forth hymn and hymnFrom the beholder,Beholding all these green sidesAnd gold sides of green sides,
And blessed mornings,Meet for the eye of the young alligator,And lightning colorsSo, in me, come flingingForms, flames, and the flakes of flames.
Words in this poem
- beholder n.
- One who beholds; a spectator.
- beholding a.
- Obliged; beholden.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Nomad Exquisite is in the public domain. This text is taken from Harmonium, Project Gutenberg ebook #78743; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Wallace Stevens, Nomad Exquisite, in Harmonium (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #78743, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stevens-harmonium/nomad-exquisite.html, id L01085.
Form and metre
Nomad Exquisite is 14 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.3 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 57% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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.
- 2 ---AA florida · hymn · beholder · sidesA · sidesA
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| As the immense dew of Florida | 9 | ··˘/··/˘˘ |
| Brings forth | 2 | ·· |
| The big-finned palm | 4 | ···· |
| And green vine angering for life, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| As the immense dew of Florida | 9 | ··˘/··/˘˘ |
| Brings forth hymn and hymn | 5 | ····· |
| From the beholder, | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| Beholding all these green sides | 7 | ˘/˘···· |
| And gold sides of green sides, | 6 | ······ |
| And blessed mornings, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Meet for the eye of the young alligator, | 11 | ·······/˘·˘ |
| And lightning colors | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| So, in me, come flinging | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Forms, flames, and the flakes of flames. | 7 | ······· |
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.