Analysis of The Cup of Circe

Letitia Elizabeth Landon 1802 (Chelsea) – 1838 (Cape Coast)



Sketches from Designs by Mr. Dagley.
Sketch the Third.

"All have drank of the cup of the enchantress."

She sat a crowned Queen—the ruby's light
Gleamed like a red star on the dark midnight
Amid her curls; but as they downward fell
To meet her ivory neck's luxuriant swell,
Some roses twined around the flowing hair—
Fair roses—yet her neck was far more fair:
They were in summer perfume, and they gave
Fresh fragrance forth at each light tress's wave.
Her cheek was crimson beauty, and her eye
Flashed light upon its varying brilliancy.
There was a spell in those dark eyes, and all
Bent joyfully beneath its radiant thrall:
Their power was on the heart. One white hand raised
A sparkling vase, where gold and opals blazed
Only less glorious than her starry eyes;
(How sweet the incensed breathings that arise
From that enchanted cup!) and she the while
Held the bright poison with a witching smile.
All gathered round. I marked a fair child stop
And kiss the purple bubbles from the top;
A white haired man, too, hung upon the brim—
Oh! that such pleasure should have charms for him
And by his side a girl, whose blue eyes, bent
On the seducer, looked too innocent
For passion's madness;—but love's soul was there—
And for young Love what will not woman dare!
There was a warrior—oh, the chain was sweet
That bound him prisoner to the Circe's feet:
He knelt and gazed upon her beauty; she
Smiled, and received his wild idolatry;
Then sighed that low sweet sigh, whose tender tone
Is witching, from its echo of our own.
The Painter's skill has seized a moment where
Her hand is wreathing mid his raven hair;
And he is bent in worship, as that touch,
That soft light touch, were ecstasy too much.
He is just turned from that bewildering face
To the fair arm that holds the magic vase—
The purple liquor is just sparkling up—
The youth has pledged his heart's truth on that cup!


Scheme AX B CCDDEEFFXBGGHHBBIIJJKKXXEELLAAMMEENNBBOO
Poetic Form
Metre 1010111010 101 111101101 110110101 110111011 0101111101 110100101001 1101010101 1101011111 1001001011 110111111 0111010001 110111001 1101011101 11000111001 11011011111 010111011 10110010101 11011101 1101010101 1011010101 1101110111 0101010101 0111110101 1111011111 0111011111 1001011100 111011111 0111111101 11010010111 1111001011 1101010101 1001110100 1111111101 11011101101 0101110101 011111101 0111010111 1111010011 11111101001 1011110101 0101011101 0111111111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,898
Words 343
Sentences 15
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 2, 1, 40
Lines Amount 43
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 494
Words per stanza (avg) 113
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Submitted by Madeleine Quinn on February 09, 2020

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:45 min read
30

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Letitia Elizabeth Landon was an English poet. Born 14th August 1802 at 25 Hans Place, Chelsea, she lived through the most productive period of her life nearby, at No.22. A precocious child with a natural gift for poetry, she was driven by the financial needs of her family to become a professional writer and thus a target for malicious gossip (although her three children by William Jerdan were successfully hidden from the public). In 1838, she married George Maclean, governor of Cape Coast Castle on the Gold Coast, whence she travelled, only to die a few months later (15th October) of a fatal heart condition. Behind her post-Romantic style of sentimentality lie preoccupations with art, decay and loss that give her poetry its characteristic intensity and in this vein she attempted to reinterpret some of the great male texts from a woman’s perspective. Her originality rapidly led to her being one of the most read authors of her day and her influence, commencing with Tennyson in England and Poe in America, was long-lasting. However, Victorian attitudes led to her poetry being misrepresented and she became excluded from the canon of English literature, where she belongs. more…

All Letitia Elizabeth Landon poems | Letitia Elizabeth Landon Books

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