Bronze Trumpets and Sea Water— On Turning Latin into English
Alembics turn to stranger thingsStrange things, but never while we liveShall magic turn this bronze that singsTo singing water in a sieve.
The trumpeters of Caesar's guardSalute his rigorous bastionsWith ordered bruit; the bronze is hardThough there is silver in the bronze.
Our mutable tongue is like the sea,Curled wave and shattering thunder-fit;Dangle in strings of sand shall beWho smooths the ripples out of it.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- bruit n.
- Report; rumor; fame. [OE. bruit, brut, noise, bruit, F. bruit, fr. LL. brugitus; cf. L. rugire to roar; perh. influenced by the source of E. bray to make a harsh noise, Armor. brud b]
- dangle v. i.
- To hang loosely, or with a swinging or jerking motion. [Akin to Dan. dangle, dial. Sw. dangla, Dan. dingle, Sw. dingla, Icel. dingla; perh. from E. ding.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Bronze Trumpets and Sea Water— On Turning Latin into English is in the public domain. This text is taken from Nets to Catch the Wind, Project Gutenberg ebook #6682; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Elinor Wylie, Bronze Trumpets and Sea Water— On Turning Latin into English, in Nets to Catch the Wind (1921), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6682, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wylie-nets/bronze-trumpets-and-sea-water-on-turning-latin-into-english.html, id L12780.
Form and metre
Bronze Trumpets and Sea Water— On Turning Latin into English is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 58% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 thingsA · liveB · singsA · sieveB
- 2 ABAB guardA · bastionsB · hardA · bronzeB
- 3 ABAB seaA · fitB · beA · itB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Alembics turn to stranger things | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Strange things, but never while we live | 7 | ···/··· |
| Shall magic turn this bronze that sings | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To singing water in a sieve. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The trumpeters of Caesar's guard | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| Salute his rigorous bastions | 7 | ˘/·/˘/˘ |
| With ordered bruit; the bronze is hard | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Though there is silver in the bronze. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Our mutable tongue is like the sea, | 8 | //˘····· |
| Curled wave and shattering thunder-fit; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Dangle in strings of sand shall be | 8 | /˘······ |
| Who smooths the ripples out of it. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
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.