Arcturus
Arcturus brings the spring backAs surely now as whenHe rose on eastern islandsFor Grecian girls and men;
The twilight is as clear a blue,The star as shaken and as bright,And the same thought he gave to themHe gives to me to-night.
Words in this poem
- arcturus n.
- A fixed star of the first magnitude in the constellation Boötes. [L. Arcturus, Gr. Arctic.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Arcturus is in the public domain. This text is taken from Flame and Shadow, Project Gutenberg ebook #591; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sara Teasdale, Arcturus, in Flame and Shadow (1920), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #591, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/teasdale-flame-shadow/arcturus.html, id L16993.
Form and metre
Arcturus is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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 back · whenA · islands · menA
- 2 -A-A blue · brightA · them · nightA
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Arcturus brings the spring back | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| As surely now as when | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| He rose on eastern islands | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| For Grecian girls and men; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The twilight is as clear a blue, | 8 | ·/······ |
| The star as shaken and as bright, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And the same thought he gave to them | 8 | ········ |
| He gives to me to-night. | 6 | ······ |
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.