Overcast Sky
Meseemeth thy glance, soft enshrouded with dew,Thy mysterious eyes (are they grey, green or blue?),Alternately cruel, and tender, and shy,Reflect both the languor and calm of the sky.
Thou recallest those white days--with shadows caressed,Engendering tears from th' enraptured breast,When racked by an anguish unfathomed that weeps,The nerves, too awake, jibe the spirit that sleeps.
At times--thou art like those horizons divine,Where the suns of the nebulous seasons decline;How resplendent art thou--O pasturage vast,Illumed by the beams of a sky overcast!
O! dangerous dame--oh seductive clime!As well, will I love both thy snow and thy rime,And shall I know how from the frosts to enticeDelights that are keener than iron and ice?
Words in this poem
- pasturage n.
- Grazing ground; grass land used for pasturing; pasture. [OF. pasturage, F. pâturage. See Pasture.]
- overcast v. t.
- To cast or cover over; hence, to cloud; to darken.
- dame n.
- A mistress of a family, who is a lady; a womam in authority; especially, a lady. [F. dame, LL. domna, fr. L. domina mistress, lady, fem. of dominus master, ruler, lord; akin to domare to tame, subdue. See Tame, and cf. Dam mother, Dan, Danger]
- clime n.
- A climate; a tract or region of the earth. See Climate. [L. clima. See Climate.]
- rime n.
- A rent or long aperture; a chink; a fissure; a crack. Sir T. [L. rima.]
- 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,]
- keener n.
- A professional mourner who wails at a funeral. [Ireland]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Overcast Sky is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Flowers of Evil, Project Gutenberg ebook #36098; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Charles Baudelaire, Overcast Sky, in The Flowers of Evil (1909), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36098, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/baudelaire-flowers-of-evil/overcast-sky.html, id L25419.
Form and metre
Overcast Sky is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in anapaestic tetrameter.
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 dewA · blueA · shyB · skyB
- 2 AABB caressedA · breastA · weepsB · sleepsB
- 3 AABB divineA · declineA · vastB · overcastB
- 4 AABB climeA · rimeA · enticeB · iceB
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Meseemeth thy glance, soft enshrouded with dew, | 11 | ······˘/˘·· |
| Thy mysterious eyes (are they grey, green or blue?), | 11 | ·˘/˘······· |
| Alternately cruel, and tender, and shy, | 11 | /˘˘˘/˘·/˘·· |
| Reflect both the languor and calm of the sky. | 11 | ˘/··/˘····· |
| Thou recallest those white days--with shadows caressed, | 12 | ·/·˘····/·˘/ |
| Engendering tears from th' enraptured breast, | 11 | ˘/˘˘··˘/˘˘· |
| When racked by an anguish unfathomed that weeps, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| The nerves, too awake, jibe the spirit that sleeps. | 11 | ···˘/··/˘·· |
| At times--thou art like those horizons divine, | 11 | ······˘/˘˘/ |
| Where the suns of the nebulous seasons decline; | 11 | ·····/˘/˘˘/ |
| How resplendent art thou--O pasturage vast, | 11 | ·˘/˘···/˘˘· |
| Illumed by the beams of a sky overcast! | 11 | ········/˘· |
| O! dangerous dame--oh seductive clime! | 10 | ·/˘˘··˘/˘· |
| As well, will I love both thy snow and thy rime, | 11 | ··········· |
| And shall I know how from the frosts to entice | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| Delights that are keener than iron and ice? | 11 | ˘/··/˘·/˘·· |
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.