The Key-Board
Five-and-thirty black slaves,Half-a-hundred white,All their duty but to singFor their Queen's delight,Now with throats of thunder,Now with dulcet lips,While she rules them royallyWith her finger-tips!
When she quits her palace,All the slaves are dumb--Dumb with dolour till the QueenBack to Court is come:Dumb the throats of thunder,Dumb the dulcet lips,Lacking all the sovereigntyOf her finger-tips.
Dusky slaves and pallid,Ebon slaves and white,When the Queen was on her throneHow you sang to-night!Ah, the throats of thunder!Ah, the dulcet lips!Ah, the gracious tyranniesOf her finger-tips!
Silent, silent, silent,All your voices now;Was it then her life aloneDid your life endow?Waken, throats of thunder!Waken, dulcet lips!Touched to immortalityBy her finger-tips.
Words in this poem
- dulcet a.
- Sweet to the taste; luscious. [OF. doucet, dim. of dous sweet, F. doux, L. dulcis; akin to Gr. Doucet.]
- royally adv.
- In a royal or kingly manner; like a king; as becomes a king.
- dolour n.
- Pain; grief; distress; anguish. [OE. dolor, dolur, dolour, F. douleur, L. dolor, fr. dolere. See 1st Dole.]
- ebon a.
- Consisting of ebony.
- waken v. i.
- To wake; to cease to sleep; to be awakened. [OE. waknen, AS. wæcnan; akin to Goth. gawaknan. See Wake, v. i.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Key-Board is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of William Watson, Project Gutenberg ebook #13179; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Watson, The Key-Board, in The Poems of William Watson (1892–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13179, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/watson-poems/the-key-board.html, id L11254.
Form and metre
The Key-Board is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.8 syllables. 11 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 trochaic trimeter.
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-B-B slaves · whiteA · sing · delightA · thunder · lipsB · royally · tipsB
- 2 -A-A-B-B palace · dumbA · queen · comeA · thunder · lipsB · sovereignty · tipsB
- 3 -A-A-B-B pallid · whiteA · throne · nightA · thunder · lipsB · tyrannies · tipsB
- 4 -A-A-B-B silent · nowA · alone · endowA · thunder · lipsB · immortality · tipsB
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 trochaic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Five-and-thirty black slaves, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Half-a-hundred white, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| All their duty but to sing | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| For their Queen's delight, | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Now with throats of thunder, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Now with dulcet lips, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| While she rules them royally | 6 | ····/˘ |
| With her finger-tips! | 5 | ··/˘· |
| When she quits her palace, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| All the slaves are dumb-- | 5 | ····· |
| Dumb with dolour till the Queen | 7 | ······· |
| Back to Court is come: | 5 | ····· |
| Dumb the throats of thunder, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Dumb the dulcet lips, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Lacking all the sovereignty | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Of her finger-tips. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Dusky slaves and pallid, | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Ebon slaves and white, | 5 | /˘··· |
| When the Queen was on her throne | 7 | ······· |
| How you sang to-night! | 5 | ····· |
| Ah, the throats of thunder! | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Ah, the dulcet lips! | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Ah, the gracious tyrannies | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Of her finger-tips! | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Silent, silent, silent, | 6 | /˘/˘/˘ |
| All your voices now; | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Was it then her life alone | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Did your life endow? | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Waken, throats of thunder! | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Waken, dulcet lips! | 5 | /˘/˘· |
| Touched to immortality | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| By her finger-tips. | 5 | ··/˘· |
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.