Introduction
Hear the voice of the Bard,Who present, past, and future, sees;Whose ears have heardThe Holy WordThat walked among the ancient trees;
Calling the lapséd 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,Is given thee till the break of day.’
Words in this poem
- 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 Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Project Gutenberg ebook #1934; 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 Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1789–1794), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1934, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/blake-songs/introduction-2.html, id L02888.
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 -ABBA bard · seesA · heardB · wordB · treesA
- 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 trees; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Calling the lapséd 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 | ·/˘˘· |
| Is 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.