The Eumenides
THINK you we slept within the Delphic bower,What time our victim sought Apollo's grace?Nay, drawn into ourselves, in that deep placeWhere good and evil meet, we bode our hour.For not inexorable is our power.And we are hunted of the prey we chase,Soonest gain ground on them that flee apace,And draw temerity from hearts that cower.
Shuddering we gather in the house of ruth,And on the fearful turn a face of fear,But they to whom the ways of doom are clearNot vainly named us the Eumenides.Our feet are faithful in the paths of truth,And in the constant heart we house at peace.
Words in this poem
- delphic a.
- Of or relating to Delphi, or to the famous oracle of that place. [L. Delphicus, fr. Gr. Delphi, a town of Phocis, in Greece, now Kastri.]
- bode n.
- An omen; a foreshadowing.
- apace adv.
- With a quick pace; quick; fast; speedily. [Pref. a- + pace. OE. a pas at a walk, in which a is the article. See Pace.]
- temerity n.
- Unreasonable contempt of danger; extreme venturesomeness; rashness; as, the temerity of a commander in war. [L. temeritas, from temere by chance, rashly; perhaps akin to Skr. tamas darkness: cf. F. témérité.]
- ruth n.
- Sorrow for the misery of another; pity; tenderness. [From Rue, v.: cf. Icel. hryggedh, hrygedh.]
- eumenides n.
- A euphemistic name for the Furies of Erinyes.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Eumenides 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, The Eumenides, in Artemis to Actaeon, and Other Verse (1909), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4549, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wharton-artemis/the-eumenides.html, id L22237.
Form and metre
The Eumenides is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 ABBAABBA bowerA · graceB · placeB · hourA · powerA · chaseB · apaceB · cowerA
- 2 ABB-A- ruthA · fearB · clearB · eumenides · truthA · peace
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 |
|---|---|---|
| THINK you we slept within the Delphic bower, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| What time our victim sought Apollo's grace? | 10 | ··//˘·˘/˘· |
| Nay, drawn into ourselves, in that deep place | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Where good and evil meet, we bode our hour. | 11 | ···/···/˘/˘ |
| For not inexorable is our power. | 11 | ···/˘˘˘·//˘ |
| And we are hunted of the prey we chase, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Soonest gain ground on them that flee apace, | 10 | /˘······˘/ |
| And draw temerity from hearts that cower. | 11 | ··˘/˘˘···/˘ |
| Shuddering we gather in the house of ruth, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| And on the fearful turn a face of fear, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| But they to whom the ways of doom are clear | 10 | ·········· |
| Not vainly named us the Eumenides. | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘˘ |
| Our feet are faithful in the paths of truth, | 10 | /··/˘····· |
| And in the constant heart we house at peace. | 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.