A Song
Sweet dreams, form a shadeO'er my lovely infant's head!Sweet dreams of pleasant streamsBy happy, silent, moony beams!
Sweet Sleep, with soft downWeave thy brows an infant crownSweet Sleep, angel mild,Hover o'er my happy child!
Sweet smiles, in the nightHover over my delight!Sweet smiles, mother's smile,All the livelong night beguile.
Sweet moans, dovelike sighs,Chase not slumber from thine eyes!Sweet moan, sweeter smile,All the dovelike moans beguile.
Sleep, sleep, happy child!All creation slept and smiled.Sleep, sleep, happy sleep,While o'er thee doth mother weep.
Sweet babe, in thy faceHoly image I can trace;Sweet babe, once like theeThy Maker lay, and wept for me:
Wept for me, for thee, for all,When He was an infant small.Thou His image ever see,Heavenly face that smiles on thee!
Smiles on thee, on me, on all,Who became an infant small;Infant smiles are his own smiles;Heaven and earth to peace beguiles.
Words in this poem
- moony a.
- Of or pertaining to the moon.
- hover n.
- A cover; a shelter; a protection. Carew. C. Kingsley. [Etymol. doubtful.]
- livelong a.
- Whole; entire; long in passing; -- used of time, as day or night, in adverbial phrases, and usually with a sense of tediousness. [For lifelong. Cf. Lifelong.]
- dovelike a.
- Mild as a dove; gentle; pure and lovable.
- babe n.
- An infant; a young child of either sex; a baby. [Cf. Ir. bab, baban, W. baban, maban.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Song is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of William Blake, Project Gutenberg ebook #574; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Blake, A Song, in Poems of William Blake (1783–1794), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #574, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/blake-poems/a-song.html, id L01991.
Form and metre
A Song is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 7 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.3 syllables. 22% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 --AA shade · head · streamsA · beamsA
- 2 AABB downA · crownA · mildB · childB
- 3 AABB nightA · delightA · smileB · beguileB
- 4 AABB sighsA · eyesA · smileB · beguileB
- 5 AABB childA · smiledA · sleepB · weepB
- 6 AABB faceA · traceA · theeB · meB
- 7 AABB allA · smallA · seeB · theeB
- 8 AABB allA · smallA · smilesB · beguilesB
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Sweet dreams, form a shade | 5 | ····· |
| O'er my lovely infant's head! | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Sweet dreams of pleasant streams | 6 | ···/˘· |
| By happy, silent, moony beams! | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Sweet Sleep, with soft down | 5 | ····· |
| Weave thy brows an infant crown | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Sweet Sleep, angel mild, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Hover o'er my happy child! | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Sweet smiles, in the night | 5 | ····· |
| Hover over my delight! | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| Sweet smiles, mother's smile, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| All the livelong night beguile. | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Sweet moans, dovelike sighs, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Chase not slumber from thine eyes! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Sweet moan, sweeter smile, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| All the dovelike moans beguile. | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Sleep, sleep, happy child! | 5 | ··/˘· |
| All creation slept and smiled. | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| Sleep, sleep, happy sleep, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| While o'er thee doth mother weep. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Sweet babe, in thy face | 5 | ····· |
| Holy image I can trace; | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Sweet babe, once like thee | 5 | ····· |
| Thy Maker lay, and wept for me: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Wept for me, for thee, for all, | 7 | ······· |
| When He was an infant small. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Thou His image ever see, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Heavenly face that smiles on thee! | 7 | /˘····· |
| Smiles on thee, on me, on all, | 7 | ······· |
| Who became an infant small; | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| Infant smiles are his own smiles; | 7 | /˘····· |
| Heaven and earth to peace beguiles. | 7 | /····˘/ |
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.