Poem I
Nota: man is the intelligence of his soil,The sovereign ghost. As such, the SocratesOf snails, musician of pears, principiumAnd lex. Sed quaeritur: is this same wigOf things, this nincompated pedagogue,Preceptor to the sea? Crispin at seaCreated, in his day, a touch of doubt.An eye most apt in gelatines and jupes,Berries of villages, a barber’s eye,An eye of land, of simple salad-beds,Of honest quilts, the eye of Crispin, hungOn porpoises, instead of apricots,And on silentious porpoises, whose snoutsDibbled in waves that were mustachios,Inscrutable hair in an inscrutable world.
One eats one paté, even of salt, quotha.It was not so much the lost terrestrial,The snug hibernal from that sea and salt,That century of wind in a single puff.What counted was mythology of self,Blotched out beyond unblotching. Crispin,The lutanist of fleas, the knave, the thane,The ribboned stick, the bellowing breeches, cloakOf China, cap of Spain, imperative hawOf hum, inquisitorial botanist,And general lexicographer of muteAnd maidenly greenhorns, now beheld himself,A skinny sailor peering in the sea-glass.What word split up in clickering syllablesAnd storming under multitudinous tonesWas name for this short-shanks in all that brunt?Crispin was washed away by magnitude.The whole of life that still remained in himDwindled to one sound strumming in his ear,Ubiquitous concussion, slap and sigh,Polyphony beyond his baton’s thrust.
Could Crispin stem verboseness in the sea,The old age of a watery realist,Triton, dissolved in shifting diaphanesOf blue and green? A wordy, watery ageThat whispered to the sun’s compassion, madeA convocation, nightly, of the sea-stars,And on the clopping foot-ways of the moonLay grovelling. Triton incomplicate with thatWhich made him Triton, nothing left of him,Except in faint, memorial gesturings,That were like arms and shoulders in the waves,Here, something in the rise and fall of windThat seemed hallucinating horn, and here,A sunken voice, both of rememberingAnd of forgetfulness, in alternate strain.Just so an ancient Crispin was dissolved.The valet in the tempest was annulled.Bordeaux to Yucatan, Havana next,And then to Carolina. Simple jaunt.Crispin, merest minuscule in the gales,Dejected his manner to the turbulence.The salt hung on his spirit like a frost,The dead brine melted in him like a dewOf winter, until nothing of himselfRemained, except some starker, barer selfIn a starker, barer world, in which the sunWas not the sun because it never shoneWith bland complaisance on pale parasols,Beetled, in chapels, on the chaste bouquets.Against his pipping sounds a trumpet criedCelestial sneering boisterously. CrispinBecame an introspective voyager.
Here was the veritable ding an sich, at last,Crispin confronting it, a vocable thing,But with a speech belched out of hoary darksNoway resembling his, a visible thing,And excepting negligible Triton, freeFrom the unavoidable shadow of himselfThat lay elsewhere around him. SeveranceWas clear. The last distortion of romanceForsook the insatiable egotist. The seaSevers not only lands but also selves.Here was no help before reality.Crispin beheld and Crispin was made new.The imagination, here, could not evade,In poems of plums, the strict austerityOf one vast, subjugating, final tone.The drenching of stale lives no more fell down.What was this gaudy, gusty panoply?Out of what swift destruction did it spring?It was caparison of wind and cloudAnd something given to make whole amongThe ruses that were shattered by the large.
Words in this poem 41
- ghost n.
- The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
- preceptor n.
- One who gives commands, or makes rules; specifically, the master or principal of a school; a teacher; an instructor. [L. praeceptor, fr. praecipere to teach: cf. F. précepteur. See Precept.]
- crispin n.
- A shoemaker; -- jocularly so called from the patron sant of the craft.
- silentious a.
- Habitually silent; taciturn; reticent. [L. silentiosus: cf. F. silencieux.]
- quotha interj.
- Indeed; forsooth. [For quoth'a, said he, 'a being corrupted from he.]
- hibernal a.
- Belonging or relating to winter; wintry; winterish. Sir T. [L. hibernalis, from the root of hiems winter; akin to Gr. hima cold, winter, snow: cf. F. hibernal.]
- blotched a.
- Marked or covered with blotches.
- lutanist n.
- A person that plays on the lute. Johnson. [LL.lutanista, fr. lutana lute. See Lute the instrument.]
- knave n.
- A boy; especially, a boy servant. Wyclif. [OE., boy, servant, knave, AS. cnafa boy, youth; cf. AS. cnapa boy, youth, D. kna, G. knabe boy, knappe esquire, Icel. knapi, Sw. knape esquire, knäfvel knave.]
- lexicographer n.
- The author or compiler of a lexicon or dictionary. [Gr. lexicographe. See Lexicon.]
- maidenly a.
- Like a maid; suiting a maid; maiden-like; gentle, modest, reserved.
- skinny a.
- Consisting, or chiefly consisting, of skin; wanting flesh.
- storming a.
- from Storm, v. Storming party (Mil.), a party assigned to the duty of making the first assault in storming a fortress.
- multitudinous a.
- Consisting of a multitude; manifold in number or condition; as, multitudinous waves.
- brunt n.
- The heat, or utmost violence, of an onset; the strength or greatest fury of any contention; as, the brunt of a battle. [OE. brunt, bront, fr. Icel. bruna to rush; cf. Icel. brenna to burn. Cf. Burn, v. t.]
- ubiquitous a.
- Existing or being everywhere, or in all places, at the same time; omnipresent. [See Ubiquity.]
- polyphony n.
- Multiplicity of sounds, as in the reverberations of an echo.
- convocation n.
- The act of calling or assembling by summons. [L. convocatio: cf. F. convocation. See Convoke.]
- nightly a.
- Of or pertaining to the night, or to every night; happening or done by night, or every night; as, nightly shades; he kept nightly vigils.
- valet n.
- A male waiting servant; a servant who attends on gentleman's person; a body servant. [F. valet, OF. vallet, varlet, vaslet. See Varlet, and Vassal.]
- bordeaux a.
- Pertaining to Bordeaux in the south of France.
- havana a.
- Of or pertaining to Havana, the capital of the island of Cuba; as, an Havana cigar; -- formerly sometimes written Havannah.
- jaunt v. t.
- To jolt; to jounce. Bale.
- minuscule n.
- Any very small, minute object. [L. minusculus rather small, fr. minus less: cf. F. minuscule.]
- complaisance n.
- Disposition to please or oblige; obliging compliance with the wishes of others; a deportment indicative of a desire to please; courtesy; civility. [F. complaisance. See Complaisant, and cf. Complacence.]
- boisterously adv.
- In a boisterous manner.
- introspective a.
- Inspecting within; seeing inwardly; capable of, or exercising, inspection; self-conscious. [Cf. F. introspectif.]
- voyager n.
- One who voyages; one who sails or passes by sea or water. [Cf. F. voyager traveling.]
- veritable a.
- Agreeable to truth or to fact; actual; real; true; genuine. [F. véritable. See Verity.]
- ding v. t.
- To dash; to throw violently. [OE. dingen, dengen; akin to AS. dencgan to knock, Icel. dengja to beat, hammer, Sw. dänga, G. dengeln.]
- confronting n.
- dealing with (a person or problem) directly; taking the bull by the horns.
- vocable n.
- A word; a term; a name; specifically, a word considered as composed of certain sounds or letters, without regard to its meaning. [L. vocabulum an appellation, designation, name, fr. vocare to call, fr. vox, vocis, a voice, a word: cf. F. vocable. See Voice.]
- hoary a.
- White or whitish."The hoary willows."
- noway adv.
- In no manner or degree; not at all; nowise. [No, a. + way. Cf. -wards.]
- negligible a.
- That may neglicted, disregarded, or left out of consideration. [Cf. F. négligible, négligeable.]
- severance n.
- The act of severing, or the state of being severed; partition; separation. Milman.
- egotist n.
- One addicted to egotism; one who speaks much of himself or magnifies his own achievements or affairs. [L. ego I + ending -tist for -ist. See Egotism, and cf. Egoist.]
- austerity n.
- Sourness and harshness to the taste. Horsley. [F. austérité, L. austerias, fr. austerus. See Austere.]
- gusty a.
- Subject to, or characterized by, gusts or squalls; windy; stormy; tempestuous.
- panoply n.
- Defensive armor in general; a full suit of defensive armor.
- caparison n.
- An ornamental covering or housing for a horse; the harness or trappings of a horse, taken collectively, esp. when decorative. [F. capara, fr. Sp. caparazon a cover for a saddle, coach, etc.; capa cloak, cover (fr. LL. capa, cf. LL. caparo also fr. capa) + the term. azon. See Cap.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Poem I 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, Poem I, in Harmonium (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #78743, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stevens-harmonium/poem-i.html, id L01022.
Form and metre
Poem I is 89 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%). 86% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 17 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 39% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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--A------ soil · socrates · principium · wig · pedagogue · seaA · doubt · jupes · eyeA · beds · hung · apricots · snouts · mustachios · world
- 2 ----ABB----A--------- quotha · terrestrial · salt · puff · selfA · crispinB · thaneB · cloak · haw · botanist · mute · himselfA · glass · syllables · tones · brunt · magnitude · him · ear · sigh · thrust
- 3 -----------------------AA-B---B- sea · realist · diaphanes · age · made · stars · moon · that · him · gesturings · waves · wind · here · remembering · strain · dissolved · annulled · next · jaunt · gales · turbulence · frost · dew · himselfA · selfA · sun · shoneB · parasols · bouquets · cried · crispinB · voyager
- 4 -A-AB-CCB--------A--- last · thingA · darks · thingA · freeB · himself · severanceC · romanceC · seaB · selves · reality · new · evade · austerity · tone · down · panoply · springA · cloud · among · large
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Nota: man is the intelligence of his soil, | 11 | ·····˘/˘··· |
| The sovereign ghost. As such, the Socrates | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Of snails, musician of pears, principium | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| And lex. Sed quaeritur: is this same wig | 10 | ·········· |
| Of things, this nincompated pedagogue, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Preceptor to the sea? Crispin at sea | 10 | ˘/˘···/˘·· |
| Created, in his day, a touch of doubt. | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| An eye most apt in gelatines and jupes, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Berries of villages, a barber’s eye, | 10 | /˘·/˘˘·/˘· |
| An eye of land, of simple salad-beds, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Of honest quilts, the eye of Crispin, hung | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| On porpoises, instead of apricots, | 10 | ·/˘˘˘/·/˘· |
| And on silentious porpoises, whose snouts | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘˘·· |
| Dibbled in waves that were mustachios, | 10 | /˘····˘/˘· |
| Inscrutable hair in an inscrutable world. | 10 | ˘/˘···˘/˘· |
| One eats one paté, even of salt, quotha. | 10 | ····/˘··/˘ |
| It was not so much the lost terrestrial, | 11 | ·······˘/˘˘ |
| The snug hibernal from that sea and salt, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| That century of wind in a single puff. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| What counted was mythology of self, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘·· |
| Blotched out beyond unblotching. Crispin, | 10 | ·˘······/˘ |
| The lutanist of fleas, the knave, the thane, | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| The ribboned stick, the bellowing breeches, cloak | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Of China, cap of Spain, imperative haw | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Of hum, inquisitorial botanist, | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| And general lexicographer of mute | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘·· |
| And maidenly greenhorns, now beheld himself, | 11 | ·/˘˘···˘/˘/ |
| A skinny sailor peering in the sea-glass. | 11 | ·/˘/˘/˘···· |
| What word split up in clickering syllables | 11 | ·····/˘˘/˘˘ |
| And storming under multitudinous tones | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| Was name for this short-shanks in all that brunt? | 10 | ·········· |
| Crispin was washed away by magnitude. | 10 | /˘··˘/·/˘· |
| The whole of life that still remained in him | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Dwindled to one sound strumming in his ear, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Ubiquitous concussion, slap and sigh, | 10 | ˘/˘˘˘/˘··· |
| Polyphony beyond his baton’s thrust. | 10 | ˘/˘˘···˘/· |
| Could Crispin stem verboseness in the sea, | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| The old age of a watery realist, | 10 | ·····/˘˘/˘ |
| Triton, dissolved in shifting diaphanes | 10 | /˘˘/˘·/˘·· |
| Of blue and green? A wordy, watery age | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| That whispered to the sun’s compassion, made | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| A convocation, nightly, of the sea-stars, | 11 | ··˘/˘/˘···· |
| And on the clopping foot-ways of the moon | 10 | ·········· |
| Lay grovelling. Triton incomplicate with that | 11 | ·/˘/˘······ |
| Which made him Triton, nothing left of him, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Except in faint, memorial gesturings, | 11 | ····˘/˘˘/˘˘ |
| That were like arms and shoulders in the waves, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Here, something in the rise and fall of wind | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| That seemed hallucinating horn, and here, | 10 | ··˘/˘˘˘··· |
| A sunken voice, both of remembering | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘˘ |
| And of forgetfulness, in alternate strain. | 10 | ··˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| Just so an ancient Crispin was dissolved. | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| The valet in the tempest was annulled. | 10 | ·˘/··/˘·/˘ |
| Bordeaux to Yucatan, Havana next, | 10 | ˘/·/˘·˘/˘· |
| And then to Carolina. Simple jaunt. | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| Crispin, merest minuscule in the gales, | 10 | /˘/˘/˘···· |
| Dejected his manner to the turbulence. | 11 | ˘/˘·/˘··/˘˘ |
| The salt hung on his spirit like a frost, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The dead brine melted in him like a dew | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Of winter, until nothing of himself | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Remained, except some starker, barer self | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| In a starker, barer world, in which the sun | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| Was not the sun because it never shone | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| With bland complaisance on pale parasols, | 10 | ··/˘˘····· |
| Beetled, in chapels, on the chaste bouquets. | 10 | /˘·/˘···˘/ |
| Against his pipping sounds a trumpet cried | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Celestial sneering boisterously. Crispin | 11 | ˘/˘/˘/˘˘˘/˘ |
| Became an introspective voyager. | 10 | ˘/··˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Here was the veritable ding an sich, at last, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Crispin confronting it, a vocable thing, | 11 | /˘˘/˘··/˘˘· |
| But with a speech belched out of hoary darks | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Noway resembling his, a visible thing, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| And excepting negligible Triton, free | 10 | ··/˘/˘˘/˘· |
| From the unavoidable shadow of himself | 11 | ···˘/˘/··˘/ |
| That lay elsewhere around him. Severance | 10 | ··/····/˘˘ |
| Was clear. The last distortion of romance | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| Forsook the insatiable egotist. The sea | 10 | ˘/·˘/˘/˘·· |
| Severs not only lands but also selves. | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Here was no help before reality. | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| Crispin beheld and Crispin was made new. | 10 | /˘˘/·/˘··· |
| The imagination, here, could not evade, | 11 | ·˘·˘/˘···˘/ |
| In poems of plums, the strict austerity | 11 | ·/˘·····/˘˘ |
| Of one vast, subjugating, final tone. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| The drenching of stale lives no more fell down. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| What was this gaudy, gusty panoply? | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Out of what swift destruction did it spring? | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| It was caparison of wind and cloud | 10 | ··˘/˘˘···· |
| And something given to make whole among | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| The ruses that were shattered by the large. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
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.