Peter Quince at the Clavier III
Soon, with a noise like tambourines,Came her attendant Byzantines.
They wondered why Susanna criedAgainst the elders by her side;
And as they whispered, the refrainWas like a willow swept by rain.
Anon, their lamps’ uplifted flameRevealed Susanna and her shame.
And then, the simpering ByzantinesFled, with a noise like tambourines.
Words in this poem
- wondered a.
- Having performed wonders; able to perform wonderful things.
- anon adv.
- Straightway; at once. [OE. anoon, anon, anan, lit., in one (moment), fr. AS. on in + an one. See On and One.]
- simpering a.
- from Simper, v.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Peter Quince at the Clavier III 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, Peter Quince at the Clavier III, in Harmonium (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #78743, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stevens-harmonium/peter-quince-at-the-clavier-iii.html, id L01075.
Form and metre
Peter Quince at the Clavier III is 10 lines in 5 stanzas of 2 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 60% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 80% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.4 syllables. 40% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 criedA · sideA
- 3 AA refrainA · rainA
- 4 AA flameA · shameA
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Soon, with a noise like tambourines, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Came her attendant Byzantines. | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| They wondered why Susanna cried | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Against the elders by her side; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And as they whispered, the refrain | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Was like a willow swept by rain. | 8 | ···/···· |
| Anon, their lamps’ uplifted flame | 8 | ˘/··/˘˘· |
| Revealed Susanna and her shame. | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| And then, the simpering Byzantines | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Fled, with a noise like tambourines. | 8 | ······˘/ |
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.