Referring to Her Monody on the Poetess
Thou bay-crowned living One that o'er the bay-crowned Dead art bowing,And o'er the shadeless moveless brow the vital shadow throwing,And o'er the sighless songless lips the wail and music wedding,And dropping o'er the tranquil eyes the tears not of their shedding!--
Take music from the silent Dead whose meaning is completer,Reserve thy tears for living brows where all such tears are meeter,And leave the violets in the grass to brighten where thou treadest,No flowers for her! no need of flowers, albeit "bring flowers!" thousaidest.
Yes, flowers, to crown the "cup and lute," since both may come tobreaking,Or flowers, to greet the "bride"--the heart's own beating works itsaching;Or flowers, to soothe the "captive's" sight, from earth's free bosomgathered,Reminding of his earthly hope, then withering as it withered:
But bring not near the solemn corse a type of human seeming,Lay only dust's stern verity upon the dust undreaming:And while the calm perpetual stars shall look upon it solely,Her sphered soul shall look on them with eyes more bright and holy.
Nor mourn, O living One, because her part in life was mourning:Would she have lost the poet's fire for anguish of the burning?The minstrel harp, for the strained string? the tripod, for theafflatedWoe? or the vision, for those tears in which it shone dilated?
Perhaps she shuddered while the world's cold hand her brow waswreathing,But never wronged that mystic breath which breathed in all herbreathing,Which drew, from rocky earth and man, abstractions high and moving,Beauty, if not the beautiful, and love, if not the loving.
Such visionings have paled in sight; the Saviour she descrieth,And little recks who wreathed the brow which on His bosom lieth:The whiteness of His innocence o'er all her garments, flowing,There learneth she the sweet "new song" she will not mourn in knowing.
Be happy, crowned and living One! and as thy dust decayethMay thine own England say for thee what now for Her it sayeth--"Albeit softly in our ears her silver song was ringing,The foot-fall of her parting soul is softer than her singing."
Words in this poem
- shadeless a.
- Being without shade; not shaded.
- moveless a.
- Motionless; fixed.
- songless a.
- Destitute of the power of song; without song; as, songless birds; songless woods.
- brighten v. t.
- To make bright or brighter; to make to shine; to increase the luster of; to give a brighter hue to.
- albeit conj.
- Even though; although; notwithstanding. [OE. al be although it be, where al is our all. Cf. Although.]
- aching a.
- That aches; continuously painful. See Ache.
- soothe v. t.
- To assent to as true. Testament of Love. [Originally, to assent to as true; OE. so to verify, AS. ges to prove the truth of, to bear witness. See Sooth, a.]
- withering a.
- Tending to wither; causing to shrink or fade.
- corse n.
- A living body or its bulk. [OF. cors, F. corps. See Corpse.]
- verity n.
- The quality or state of being true, or real; consonance of a statement, proposition, or other thing, with fact; truth; reality. [F. vérité, L. veritas, fr. verus true. See Very.]
- 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,]
- tripod n.
- Any utensil or vessel, as a stool, table, altar, caldron, etc., supported on three feet. [L. tripus, -odis, Gr. Tri-) + Foot, and cf. Tripos, Trivet.]
- saviour n.
- One who saves, preserves, or delivers from destruction or danger. [OE. saveour, OF. salveor, F. sauveur, fr. L. salvator to save. See Save, v.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Referring to Her Monody on the Poetess is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Volume 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #33363; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Referring to Her Monody on the Poetess, in Lady Geraldine's Courtship, and Other Poems (1844), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #33363, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/barrett-browning-poems-2/referring-to-her-monody-on-the-poetess.html, id L25640.
Form and metre
Referring to Her Monody on the Poetess is 39 lines in 8 stanzas. The commonest rhyme scheme is AABB, in 3 of the 8 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic heptameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See other poems in iambic heptameter.
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 AABB bowingA · throwingA · weddingB · sheddingB
- 2 AAB-B completerA · meeterA · treadestB · thou · saidestB
- 3 -A-A--- to · breakingA · its · achingA · bosom · gathered · withered
- 4 AA-- seemingA · undreamingA · solely · holy
- 7 AABB descriethA · liethA · flowingB · knowingB
- 8 AABB decayethA · sayethA · ringingB · singingB
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 heptameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Thou bay-crowned living One that o'er the bay-crowned Dead art bowing, | 15 | ···/˘········/˘ |
| And o'er the shadeless moveless brow the vital shadow throwing, | 16 | ···/˘·····/˘/·/˘ |
| And o'er the sighless songless lips the wail and music wedding, | 15 | ·····/˘····/˘/˘ |
| And dropping o'er the tranquil eyes the tears not of their shedding!-- | 15 | ·/˘··/˘······/˘ |
| Take music from the silent Dead whose meaning is completer, | 15 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘···· |
| Reserve thy tears for living brows where all such tears are meeter, | 15 | ˘/···/˘······/˘ |
| And leave the violets in the grass to brighten where thou treadest, | 16 | ···/˘˘····/˘··/˘ |
| No flowers for her! no need of flowers, albeit "bring flowers!" thou | 17 | ·/˘·····/˘˘/˘·/˘· |
| saidest. | 2 | /˘ |
| Yes, flowers, to crown the "cup and lute," since both may come to | 14 | ·/˘··········· |
| breaking, | 2 | /˘ |
| Or flowers, to greet the "bride"--the heart's own beating works its | 14 | ·/˘·······/˘·· |
| aching; | 2 | /˘ |
| Or flowers, to soothe the "captive's" sight, from earth's free bosom | 14 | ·/˘···/˘····/˘ |
| gathered, | 2 | /˘ |
| Reminding of his earthly hope, then withering as it withered: | 16 | ˘/˘··/˘··/˘˘··/˘ |
| But bring not near the solemn corse a type of human seeming, | 15 | ·····/˘····/˘/˘ |
| Lay only dust's stern verity upon the dust undreaming: | 15 | ·/˘··/˘˘······· |
| And while the calm perpetual stars shall look upon it solely, | 16 | ····˘/˘˘······/˘ |
| Her sphered soul shall look on them with eyes more bright and holy. | 14 | ············/˘ |
| Nor mourn, O living One, because her part in life was mourning: | 15 | ···/˘········/˘ |
| Would she have lost the poet's fire for anguish of the burning? | 16 | ·····/˘/˘·/˘··/˘ |
| The minstrel harp, for the strained string? the tripod, for the | 13 | ·/˘······/··· |
| afflated | 3 | ··· |
| Woe? or the vision, for those tears in which it shone dilated? | 15 | ···/˘·······˘/˘ |
| Perhaps she shuddered while the world's cold hand her brow was | 13 | ˘/·/˘········ |
| wreathing, | 2 | /˘ |
| But never wronged that mystic breath which breathed in all her | 13 | ·/˘··/˘······ |
| breathing, | 2 | /˘ |
| Which drew, from rocky earth and man, abstractions high and moving, | 15 | ···/˘···˘/˘··/˘ |
| Beauty, if not the beautiful, and love, if not the loving. | 15 | /˘···/˘˘·····/˘ |
| Such visionings have paled in sight; the Saviour she descrieth, | 14 | ·········/˘··· |
| And little recks who wreathed the brow which on His bosom lieth: | 14 | ·/˘········/˘· |
| The whiteness of His innocence o'er all her garments, flowing, | 15 | ·/˘··/˘˘···/˘/˘ |
| There learneth she the sweet "new song" she will not mourn in knowing. | 15 | ·/˘··········/˘ |
| Be happy, crowned and living One! and as thy dust decayeth | 15 | ·/˘··/˘·····˘/˘ |
| May thine own England say for thee what now for Her it sayeth-- | 14 | ···/˘········· |
| "Albeit softly in our ears her silver song was ringing, | 16 | ˘/˘/˘·/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| The foot-fall of her parting soul is softer than her singing." | 15 | ·····/˘··/˘··/˘ |
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.