Introduction
Hear the voice of the Bard,Who present, past, and future, sees;Whose ears have heardThe Holy WordThat walked among the ancient tree;
Calling the lapsed soul,And weeping in the evening dew;That might controlThe starry pole,And fallen, fallen light renew!
"O Earth, O Earth, return!Arise from out the dewy grass!Night is worn,And the mornRises from the slumbrous mass.
"Turn away no more;Why wilt thou turn away?The starry floor,The watery shore,Are given thee till the break of day."
Words in this poem
- lapsed a.
- Having slipped downward, backward, or away; having lost position, privilege, etc., by neglect; -- restricted to figurative uses.
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- slumbrous a.
- Slumberous. Keats.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Introduction 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, Introduction, in Poems of William Blake (1783–1794), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #574, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/blake-poems/introduction.html, id L02000.
Form and metre
Introduction is 20 lines in 4 stanzas of 5 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAAB, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.8 syllables. 20% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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- bard · sees · heardA · wordA · tree
- 2 ABAAB soulA · dewB · controlA · poleA · renewB
- 3 -ABBA return · grassA · wornB · mornB · massA
- 4 ABAAB moreA · awayB · floorA · shoreA · dayB
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Hear the voice of the Bard, | 6 | ······ |
| Who present, past, and future, sees; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Whose ears have heard | 4 | ···· |
| The Holy Word | 4 | ·/˘· |
| That walked among the ancient tree; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Calling the lapsed soul, | 5 | /˘··· |
| And weeping in the evening dew; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| That might control | 4 | ··˘/ |
| The starry pole, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And fallen, fallen light renew! | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| "O Earth, O Earth, return! | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Arise from out the dewy grass! | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Night is worn, | 3 | ··· |
| And the morn | 3 | ··· |
| Rises from the slumbrous mass. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| "Turn away no more; | 5 | ·˘/·· |
| Why wilt thou turn away? | 6 | ····˘/ |
| The starry floor, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| The watery shore, | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| Are given thee till the break of day." | 9 | ·/˘······ |
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.