La Vierge Au Donateur
HERE by the ample river's argent sweep,Bosomed in tilth and vintage to her walls,A tower-crowned Cybele in armoured sleepThe city lies, fat plenty in her halls,With calm parochial spires that hold in feeThe friendly gables clustered at their base,And, equipoised o'er tower and market-place,The Gothic minister's winged immensity;And in that narrow burgh, with equal mood,Two placid hearts, to all life's good resigned,Might, from the altar to the lych-gate, findLong years of peace and dreamless plenitude.
Words in this poem
- argent n.
- Silver, or money. [F. argent, fr. L. argentum, silver; akin to Gr. rajata white, silver, raj to shine, Ir. arg white, milk, airgiod silver, money, and L. arguere to make clear. Se]
- bosomed a.
- Having, or resembling, bosom; kept in the bosom; hidden.
- tilth n.
- The state of being tilled, or prepared for a crop; culture; as, land is good tilth. [AS. til, fr. tilian to till. See Till to cultivate.]
- armoured a.
- Clad with armor.
- immensity n.
- The state or quality of being immense; inlimited or immeasurable extension; infinity; vastness in extent or bulk; greatness. [L. immensitas: cf. F. immensité.]
- burgh n.
- A borough or incorporated town, especially, one in Scotland. [OE. See Burg.]
- placid a.
- Pleased; contented; unruffied; undisturbed; serene; peaceful; tranquil; quiet; gentle. [L. placidus, originally, pleasing, mild, from placere to please: cf. F. placide. See Please.]
- resigned a.
- Submissive; yielding; not disposed to resist or murmur.
- dreamless a.
- Free from, or without, dreams. Camden.
- plenitude n.
- The quality or state of being full or complete; fullness; completeness; abundance; as, the plenitude of space or power. [L. plenitudo, fr. plenus full; cf. F. plenitude.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
La Vierge Au Donateur is in the public domain. This text is taken from Artemis to Actaeon, and Other Verses, Project Gutenberg ebook #4549; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edith Wharton, La Vierge Au Donateur, in Artemis to Actaeon, and Other Verse (1909), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4549, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wharton-artemis/la-vierge-au-donateur.html, id L22233.
Form and metre
La Vierge Au Donateur is 12 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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 ABAB-CC-DEED sweepA · wallsB · sleepA · hallsB · fee · baseC · placeC · immensity · moodD · resignedE · findE · plenitudeD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| HERE by the ample river's argent sweep, | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| Bosomed in tilth and vintage to her walls, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| A tower-crowned Cybele in armoured sleep | 10 | ·/·····/˘· |
| The city lies, fat plenty in her halls, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| With calm parochial spires that hold in fee | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| The friendly gables clustered at their base, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| And, equipoised o'er tower and market-place, | 10 | ·····/·/˘· |
| The Gothic minister's winged immensity; | 11 | ·/˘/˘˘·˘/˘˘ |
| And in that narrow burgh, with equal mood, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Two placid hearts, to all life's good resigned, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Might, from the altar to the lych-gate, find | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Long years of peace and dreamless plenitude. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
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.