Mona Lisa
Yon strange blue city crowns a scarped steepNo mortal foot hath bloodlessly essayed:Dreams and illusions beacon from its keep.But at the gate an Angel bares his blade;And tales are told of those who thought to gainAt dawn its ramparts; but when evening fellFar off they saw each fading pinnacleLit with wild lightnings from the heaven of pain;Yet there two souls, whom life's perversitiesHad mocked with want in plenty, tears in mirth,Might meet in dreams, ungarmented of earth,And drain Joy's awful chalice to the lees.
Words in this poem
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
- pinnacle n.
- An architectural member, upright, and generally ending in a small spire, -- used to finish a buttress, to constitute a part in a proportion, as where pinnacles flank a gable or spire, and the like. [OE. pinacle, F. pinacle, L. pinnaculum, fr. pinna pinnacle, feather. See Pin a peg.]
- chalice n.
- A cup or bowl; especially, the cup used in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. [OR. chalis, calice, OF. chalice, calice, F. calice, fr. L. calix, akin to Gr. helmet. Cf. Calice, Calyx.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Mona Lisa 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, Mona Lisa, in Artemis to Actaeon, and Other Verse (1909), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4549, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wharton-artemis/mona-lisa.html, id L22234.
Form and metre
Mona Lisa is 12 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDDCEFFE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 ABABCDDCEFFE steepA · essayedB · keepA · bladeB · gainC · fellD · pinnacleD · painC · perversitiesE · mirthF · earthF · leesE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Yon strange blue city crowns a scarped steep | 10 | ···/˘···˘· |
| No mortal foot hath bloodlessly essayed: | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Dreams and illusions beacon from its keep. | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| But at the gate an Angel bares his blade; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And tales are told of those who thought to gain | 10 | ·········· |
| At dawn its ramparts; but when evening fell | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| Far off they saw each fading pinnacle | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| Lit with wild lightnings from the heaven of pain; | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| Yet there two souls, whom life's perversities | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| Had mocked with want in plenty, tears in mirth, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Might meet in dreams, ungarmented of earth, | 10 | ·········· |
| And drain Joy's awful chalice to the lees. | 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.