At Eleusis
I, at Eleusis, saw the finest sight,When early morning's banners were unfurled.From high Olympus, gazing on the world,The ancient gods once saw it with delight.Sad Demeter had in a single nightRemoved her sombre garments! and mine eyesBeheld a 'broidered mantle in pale dyesThrown o'er her throbbing bosom. Sweet and clearThere fell the sound of music on mine ear.And from the South came Hermes, he whose lyreOne time appeased the great Apollo's ire.The rescued maid, Persephone, by the handHe led to waiting Demeter, and cheerAnd light and beauty once more blessed the land.
Words in this poem
- sombre n.
- Gloom; obscurity; duskiness; somberness.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
At Eleusis is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Passion, Project Gutenberg ebook #16776; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ella Wheeler Wilcox, At Eleusis, in Poems of Passion (1883), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16776, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wilcox-passion/at-eleusis.html, id L22202.
Form and metre
At Eleusis is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 71% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 ABBAACCDDEEFDF sightA · unfurledB · worldB · delightA · nightA · eyesC · dyesC · clearD · earD · lyreE · ireE · handF · cheerD · landF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I, at Eleusis, saw the finest sight, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| When early morning's banners were unfurled. | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| From high Olympus, gazing on the world, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| The ancient gods once saw it with delight. | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Sad Demeter had in a single night | 10 | ·˘/˘···/˘· |
| Removed her sombre garments! and mine eyes | 10 | ˘/·/˘/˘··· |
| Beheld a 'broidered mantle in pale dyes | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| Thrown o'er her throbbing bosom. Sweet and clear | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| There fell the sound of music on mine ear. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And from the South came Hermes, he whose lyre | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| One time appeased the great Apollo's ire. | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘· |
| The rescued maid, Persephone, by the hand | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| He led to waiting Demeter, and cheer | 10 | ···/˘˘/˘·· |
| And light and beauty once more blessed the land. | 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.