On a Picture of a Black Centaur by Edmond Dulac
Your hooves have stamped at the black margin of the wood,Even where horrible green parrots call and swing.My works are all stamped down into the sultry mud.I knew that horse play, knew it for a murderous thing.What wholesome sun has ripened is wholesome food to eatAnd that alone; yet I, being driven half insaneBecause of some green wing, gathered old mummy wheatIn the mad abstract dark and ground it grain by grainAnd after baked it slowly in an oven; but nowI bring full flavoured wine out of a barrel foundWhere seven Ephesian topers slept and never knewWhen Alexander’s empire past, they slept so sound.Stretch out your limbs and sleep a long Saturnian sleep;I have loved you better than my soul for all my words,And there is none so fit to keep a watch and keepUnwearied eyes upon those horrible green birds.
Words in this poem
- flavoured a.
- Having a distinct flavor; as, high-flavored wine.
- ephesian a.
- Of or pertaining to Ephesus, an ancient city of Ionia, in Asia Minor. [L. Ephesius: cf. F. éphésien.]
- saturnian a.
- Of or pertaining to Saturn, whose age or reign, from the mildness and wisdom of his government, is called the golden age. [L. Saturnius.]
- unwearied a.
- Not wearied; not fatigued or tired; hence, persistent; not tiring or wearying; indefatigable.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On a Picture of a Black Centaur by Edmond Dulac is in the public domain. This text is taken from The tower, Project Gutenberg ebook #72985; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: W. B. Yeats, On a Picture of a Black Centaur by Edmond Dulac, in The Tower (1928), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #72985, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/yeats-tower/on-a-picture-of-a-black-centaur-by-edmond-dulac.html, id L19976.
Form and metre
On a Picture of a Black Centaur by Edmond Dulac is 16 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
See other poems in iambic hexameter.
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 ABABCDCD-E-EFGFG woodA · swingB · mudA · thingB · eatC · insaneD · wheatC · grainD · now · foundE · knew · soundE · sleepF · wordsG · keepF · birdsG
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 hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Your hooves have stamped at the black margin of the wood, | 12 | ·······/˘··· |
| Even where horrible green parrots call and swing. | 12 | /˘·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| My works are all stamped down into the sultry mud. | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| I knew that horse play, knew it for a murderous thing. | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| What wholesome sun has ripened is wholesome food to eat | 13 | ·/˘··/˘·/˘··· |
| And that alone; yet I, being driven half insane | 12 | ··˘/··//˘·˘/ |
| Because of some green wing, gathered old mummy wheat | 12 | ······/˘·/˘· |
| In the mad abstract dark and ground it grain by grain | 12 | ···˘/······· |
| And after baked it slowly in an oven; but now | 13 | ·····/˘··/˘·· |
| I bring full flavoured wine out of a barrel found | 12 | ···/˘····/˘· |
| Where seven Ephesian topers slept and never knew | 12 | ·/˘/˘····/˘· |
| When Alexander’s empire past, they slept so sound. | 12 | ··˘/˘/˘····· |
| Stretch out your limbs and sleep a long Saturnian sleep; | 13 | ········˘/˘˘· |
| I have loved you better than my soul for all my words, | 13 | ····/˘······· |
| And there is none so fit to keep a watch and keep | 12 | ············ |
| Unwearied eyes upon those horrible green birds. | 12 | ˘/˘····/˘˘·· |
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.