The Golden Palace
We go to the Golden Palace:We set out the jade cups.We summon the honoured guestsTo enter at the Golden Gate.They enter at the Golden GateAnd go to the Golden Hall.In the Eastern Kitchen the meat is sliced and ready--Roast beef and boiled pork and mutton.The Master of the Feast hands round the wine.The harp-players sound their clear chords.
The cups are pushed aside and we face each other at chess:The rival pawns are marshalled rank against rank.The fire glows and the smoke puffs and curls;From the incense-burner rises a delicate fragrance.The clear wine has made our cheeks red;Round the table joy and peace prevail.May those who shared in this day’s delightThrough countless autumns enjoy like felicity.
Words in this poem
- mutton n.
- A sheep. Chapman. [OE. motoun, OF. moton, molton, a sheep, wether, F. mouton, LL. multo, by transposition of l fr. L. mutilus mutilated. See Mutilate.]
- countless a.
- Incapable of being counted; not ascertainable; innumerable.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Golden Palace is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #42290, the Arthur Waley 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: Various, The Golden Palace, in A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #42290, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waley-chinese/the-golden-palace.html, id L18745.
Form and metre
The Golden Palace is 18 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 74%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.5 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 17% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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--BB- palace · cups · guests · gateA · gateA · hall · ready · muttonB · wineB · chords
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| We go to the Golden Palace: | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| We set out the jade cups. | 6 | ······ |
| We summon the honoured guests | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| To enter at the Golden Gate. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| They enter at the Golden Gate | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And go to the Golden Hall. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| In the Eastern Kitchen the meat is sliced and ready-- | 13 | ··/˘/˘·····/˘ |
| Roast beef and boiled pork and mutton. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| The Master of the Feast hands round the wine. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The harp-players sound their clear chords. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| The cups are pushed aside and we face each other at chess: | 14 | ····˘/····/˘·· |
| The rival pawns are marshalled rank against rank. | 11 | ·/˘··/˘···· |
| The fire glows and the smoke puffs and curls; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| From the incense-burner rises a delicate fragrance. | 14 | ··˘//˘/˘·/˘˘/˘ |
| The clear wine has made our cheeks red; | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Round the table joy and peace prevail. | 9 | ··/˘···˘/ |
| May those who shared in this day’s delight | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| Through countless autumns enjoy like felicity. | 12 | ·/˘/˘˘/·˘/˘˘ |
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.