Analysis of Propertius's Bid For Immortality
Franklin P. Adams 1881 (Chicago, Illinois) – 1960 (New York City, New York)
Horace: Book III, Ode 3
"Carminis interea nostri redæmus in orbem---"
Let us return, then, for a time,
To our accustomed round of rhyme;
And let my songs' familiar art
Not fail to move my lady's heart.
They say that Orpheus with his lute
Had power to tame the wildest brute;
That "Vatiations on a Theme"
Of his would stay the swiftest stream.
They say that by the minstrel's song
Cithæron's rocks were moved along
To Thebes, where, as you may recall,
They formed themselves to frame a wall.
And Galatea, lovely maid,
Beneath wild Etna's fastness stayed
Her horses, dripping with the mere,
Those Polypheman songs to hear.
What marvel, then, since Bacchus and
Apollo grasp me by the hand,
That all the maidens you have heard
Should hang upon my slightest word?
Tænerian columns in my home
Are not; nor any golden dome;
No parks have I, nor Marcian spring,
Nor orchards--nay, nor anything.
The Muses, though, are friends of mine;
Some readers love my lyric line;
And never is Callipoe
Awearied by my poetry.
O happy she whose meed of praise
Hath fallen upon my sheaf of lays!
And every song of mine is sent
To be thy beauty's monument.
The Pyramids that point the sky,
The House of Jove that soars so high,
Mausolus' tomb--they are not free
From Death his final penalty.
For fire or rain shall steal away
The crumbling glory of their day;
But fame for wit can never die,
And gosh! I was a gay old guy!
Scheme | X A AABB CCAA DDEE FFXX XXGG AAHH IIXJ KKXX LLJJ MMLL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10111 1111101 11011101 110010111 01110101 11111101 111100111 110110101 11101 11110101 1111011 1110101 1111111 11011101 0010101 0111101 01010101 11111 11011100 01011101 11010111 11011101 1110011 11110101 1111111 1101110 01011111 11011101 01011 111100 11011111 110011111 010011111 1111100 01001101 01111111 111111 11110100 110111101 010010111 11111101 01110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,398 |
Words | 257 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 1, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 42 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 90 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 21 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:18 min read
- 45 Views
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"Propertius's Bid For Immortality" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/14152/propertius%27s-bid-for-immortality>.
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