Mandoline
The courtly serenaders,The beauteous listeners,Sit idling 'neath the branchesA balmy zephyr stirs.
It's Tircis and Aminta,Clitandre,--ever there!--Damis, of melting sonnetsTo many a frosty fair.
Their trailing flowery dresses,Their fine beflowered coats,Their elegance and lightness,And shadows blue,--all floats
And mingles,--circling, wreathing,In moonlight opaline,While through the zephyr's harpingTinkles the mandoline.
Words in this poem
- courtly a.
- Relating or belonging to a court. [From Court.]
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
- balmy a.
- Having the qualities of balm; odoriferous; aromatic; assuaging; soothing; refreshing; mild.
- zephyr n.
- The west wind; poetically, any soft, gentle breeze. [L. zephyrus, Gr. zéphyr.]
- opaline a.
- Of, pertaining to, or like, opal in appearance; having changeable colors like those of the opal. [Cf. F. opalin.]
- harping a.
- Pertaining to the harp; as, harping symphonies.
- mandoline n.
- A small and beautifully shaped instrument resembling the lute. [F. mandoline, It. mandolino, dim. of mandola, fr. L. pandura. See Bandore.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Mandoline is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #8426, the Gertrude Hall translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Paul Verlaine, Mandoline, in Poems (1895), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8426, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/verlaine-poems/mandoline.html, id L15481.
Form and metre
Mandoline is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 85% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.8 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% 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 AA-A serenadersA · listenersA · branches · stirsA
- 2 -A-A aminta · thereA · sonnets · fairA
- 3 -A-A dresses · coatsA · lightness · floatsA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The courtly serenaders, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| The beauteous listeners, | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Sit idling 'neath the branches | 8 | ·/˘˘··/˘ |
| A balmy zephyr stirs. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| It's Tircis and Aminta, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Clitandre,--ever there!-- | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Damis, of melting sonnets | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| To many a frosty fair. | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| Their trailing flowery dresses, | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Their fine beflowered coats, | 6 | ······ |
| Their elegance and lightness, | 7 | ·/˘˘·/˘ |
| And shadows blue,--all floats | 6 | ·/···· |
| And mingles,--circling, wreathing, | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘/˘ |
| In moonlight opaline, | 6 | ·/·/˘· |
| While through the zephyr's harping | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Tinkles the mandoline. | 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.