Gracia
Nay, nay, Antonio! nay, thou shalt not blame her,My Gracia, who hath so deserted me.Thou art my friend, but if thou dost defame herI shall not hesitate to challenge thee.
"Curse and forget her?" So I might another,One not so bounteous-natured or so fair;But she, Antonio, she was like no other--I curse her not, because she was so rare.
She was made out of laughter and sweet kisses;Not blood, but sunshine, through her blue veins ranHer soul spilled over with its wealth of blisses;She was too great for loving but a man.
None but a god could keep so rare a creature:I blame her not for her inconstancy;When I recall each radiant smile and feature,I wonder she so long was true to me.
Call her not false or fickle. I, who love her,Do hold her not unlike the royal sun,That, all unmated, roams the wide world overAnd lights all worlds, but lingers not with one.
If she were less a goddess, more a woman,And so had dallied for a time with me,And then had left me, I, who am but human,Would slay her and her newer love, maybe.
But since she seeks Apollo, or anotherOf those lost gods (and seeks him all in vain)And has loved me as well as any otherOf her men loves, why, I do not complain.
Words in this poem
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- maybe adv.
- Perhaps; possibly; peradventure. [For it may be.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Gracia 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, Gracia, in Poems of Passion (1883), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16776, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wilcox-passion/gracia.html, id L22175.
Form and metre
Gracia is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 4 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
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 herA · meB · herA · theeB
- 2 ABAB anotherA · fairB · otherA · rareB
- 3 ABAB kissesA · ranB · blissesA · manB
- 4 A-A- creatureA · inconstancy · featureA · me
- 5 -A-A her · sunA · over · oneA
- 7 ABAB anotherA · vainB · otherA · complainB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Nay, nay, Antonio! nay, thou shalt not blame her, | 11 | ··˘/˘······ |
| My Gracia, who hath so deserted me. | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Thou art my friend, but if thou dost defame her | 11 | ········˘/· |
| I shall not hesitate to challenge thee. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| "Curse and forget her?" So I might another, | 11 | ··˘/····˘/˘ |
| One not so bounteous-natured or so fair; | 11 | ···/˘˘/˘··· |
| But she, Antonio, she was like no other-- | 11 | ··˘/˘····/˘ |
| I curse her not, because she was so rare. | 10 | ·········· |
| She was made out of laughter and sweet kisses; | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Not blood, but sunshine, through her blue veins ran | 10 | ···/······ |
| Her soul spilled over with its wealth of blisses; | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| She was too great for loving but a man. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| None but a god could keep so rare a creature: | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| I blame her not for her inconstancy; | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| When I recall each radiant smile and feature, | 11 | ··˘/·/˘··/˘ |
| I wonder she so long was true to me. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Call her not false or fickle. I, who love her, | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| Do hold her not unlike the royal sun, | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| That, all unmated, roams the wide world over | 10 | ·········· |
| And lights all worlds, but lingers not with one. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| If she were less a goddess, more a woman, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| And so had dallied for a time with me, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And then had left me, I, who am but human, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Would slay her and her newer love, maybe. | 10 | ·····/˘·/˘ |
| But since she seeks Apollo, or another | 11 | ····˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Of those lost gods (and seeks him all in vain) | 10 | ·········· |
| And has loved me as well as any other | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Of her men loves, why, I do not complain. | 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.