Greece
When life contracts into a vulgar span,And human nature tires to be a man,I thank the Gods for Greece,That permanent realm of peace.For as the rising moon far in the nightChequers the shade with her forerunning light,So in my darkest hour my senses seemTo catch from her Acropolis a gleam.
Greece, who am I that should remember thee,Thy Marathon, and thy Thermopylae?Is my life vulgar, my fate mean,Which on such golden memories can lean?
Words in this poem
- thank n.
- A expression of gratitude; an acknowledgment expressive of a sense of favor or kindness received; obligation, claim, or desert, or gratitude; -- now generally used in the plural. [AS. Þanc, Þonc, thanks, favor, thought; akin to OS. thank favor, pleasure, thanks, D. & G. dank thanks, Icel. Þ\'94kk, Dan. tak, Sw. tack, Goth. Þagks thanks; -]
- acropolis n.
- The upper part, or the citadel, of a Grecian city; especially, the citadel of Athens.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Greece is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Nature, Project Gutenberg ebook #59988; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry David Thoreau, Greece, in Poems of Nature (1895), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59988, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/thoreau-poems/greece.html, id L02814.
Form and metre
Greece is 12 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.1 syllables. 17% 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 AABBCCDD spanA · manA · greeceB · peaceB · nightC · lightC · seemD · gleamD
- 2 --AA thee · thermopylae · meanA · leanA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When life contracts into a vulgar span, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| And human nature tires to be a man, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/···· |
| I thank the Gods for Greece, | 6 | ······ |
| That permanent realm of peace. | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| For as the rising moon far in the night | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Chequers the shade with her forerunning light, | 11 | ··········· |
| So in my darkest hour my senses seem | 10 | ···/˘/·/˘· |
| To catch from her Acropolis a gleam. | 9 | ····˘/˘·· |
| Greece, who am I that should remember thee, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Thy Marathon, and thy Thermopylae? | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Is my life vulgar, my fate mean, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Which on such golden memories can lean? | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
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.