The Worms at Heaven’s Gate
Out of the tomb, we bring Badroulbadour,Within our bellies, we her chariot.Here is an eye. And here are, one by one,The lashes of that eye and its white lid.Here is the cheek on which that lid declined,And, finger after finger, here, the hand,The genius of that cheek. Here are the lips,The bundle of the body and the feet.
Out of the tomb we bring Badroulbadour.
About this text
The Worms at Heaven’s Gate 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, The Worms at Heaven’s Gate, in Harmonium (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #78743, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stevens-harmonium/the-worms-at-heaven-s-gate.html, id L01031.
Form and metre
The Worms at Heaven’s Gate is 9 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in iambic pentameter, other poems in blank verse.
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Out of the tomb, we bring Badroulbadour, | 10 | ·········· |
| Within our bellies, we her chariot. | 11 | ··/˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| Here is an eye. And here are, one by one, | 10 | ·········· |
| The lashes of that eye and its white lid. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Here is the cheek on which that lid declined, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And, finger after finger, here, the hand, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| The genius of that cheek. Here are the lips, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The bundle of the body and the feet. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Out of the tomb we bring Badroulbadour. | 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.