Philomela
Hark! ah, the nightingale--The tawny-throated!Hark! from that moonlit cedar what a burst!What triumph! hark! what pain!
O wanderer from a Grecian shore,Still, after many years, in distant lands,Still nourishing in thy bewildered brainThat wild, unquenched, deep-sunken, old-world pain,Say, will it never heal?And can this fragrant lawnWith its cool trees, and night,And the sweet, tranquil Thames,And moonshine, and the dew,To thy racked heart and brainAfford no balm?
Dost thou to-night behold,Here, through the moonlight on this English grass,The unfriendly palace in the Thracian wild?Dost thou again peruseWith hot cheeks and seared eyesThe too clear web, and thy dumb sister’s shame?Dost thou once more assayThy flight, and feel come over thee,Poor fugitive, the feathery change.Once more, and once more seem to make resoundWith love and hate, triumph and agony,Lone Daulis, and the high Cephissian vale?Listen, Eugenia,--How thick the bursts come crowding through the leaves!Again--thou hearest?Eternal passion!Eternal pain!
Words in this poem
- moonlit a.
- Illumined by the moon.
- moonshine n.
- The light of the moon.
- thracian a.
- Of or pertaining to Thrace, or its people.
- peruse v. t.
- To observe; to examine with care. [Pref. per- + use.]
- seared a.
- Scorched; cauterized; hence, figuratively, insensible; not susceptible to moral influences.
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- eugenia n.
- A genus of mytraceous plants, mostly of tropical countries, and including several aromatic trees and shrubs, among which are the trees which produce allspice and cloves of commerce. [NL. Named in honor of Prince Eugene of Savoy.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Philomela is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #54985; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Matthew Arnold, Philomela, in Poems (1849–1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #54985, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/arnold-poems/philomela.html, id L07009.
Form and metre
Philomela is 32 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.3 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 22% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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.
- 2 --AA-----A- shore · lands · brainA · painA · heal · lawn · night · thames · dew · brainA · balm
- 3 ---------------AA behold · grass · wild · peruse · eyes · shame · assay · thee · change · resound · agony · vale · eugenia · leaves · hearest · passionA · painA
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Hark! ah, the nightingale-- | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| The tawny-throated! | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Hark! from that moonlit cedar what a burst! | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| What triumph! hark! what pain! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| O wanderer from a Grecian shore, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Still, after many years, in distant lands, | 9 | ···/··/˘· |
| Still nourishing in thy bewildered brain | 9 | ·/˘··˘/˘· |
| That wild, unquenched, deep-sunken, old-world pain, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Say, will it never heal? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And can this fragrant lawn | 6 | ···/˘· |
| With its cool trees, and night, | 6 | ······ |
| And the sweet, tranquil Thames, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And moonshine, and the dew, | 6 | ·/···· |
| To thy racked heart and brain | 7 | ···˘··· |
| Afford no balm? | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Dost thou to-night behold, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Here, through the moonlight on this English grass, | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| The unfriendly palace in the Thracian wild? | 11 | ·˘/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Dost thou again peruse | 6 | ··˘/˘/ |
| With hot cheeks and seared eyes | 7 | ·····˘· |
| The too clear web, and thy dumb sister’s shame? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Dost thou once more assay | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Thy flight, and feel come over thee, | 8 | ········ |
| Poor fugitive, the feathery change. | 8 | ·/˘·/˘˘· |
| Once more, and once more seem to make resound | 10 | ·········/ |
| With love and hate, triumph and agony, | 9 | ····/˘·/˘ |
| Lone Daulis, and the high Cephissian vale? | 10 | ·········· |
| Listen, Eugenia,-- | 6 | /˘·/˘˘ |
| How thick the bursts come crowding through the leaves! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Again--thou hearest? | 5 | ˘/·/˘ |
| Eternal passion! | 5 | ˘/˘/˘ |
| Eternal pain! | 4 | ˘/˘· |
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.