East Wind
Shouts, and the noise of war!Far o'er the land hath been my flight,O'er many a forest dark as night,O'er champaigns where the Tartar speeds,O'er Wolga's wild and giant reeds,O'er the Carpathian summits hoar,Beneath whose snows and shadows frore,Poland's level length unfoldsHer trackless woods and wildering wolds,Like a spirit, seeking rest,I have passed from east to west,While sounds of discord and lamentRose from the earth where'er I went.I care not; hurrying, as in scorn,I shook my lance, and blew my horn;The day shows clear; and merrilyAlong the Atlantic now I fly.Who comes in soft and spicy vest,From the mild regions of the West?An azure veil bends waving o'er his head,And showers of violets from his hands are shed.'Tis Zephyr, with a look as young and fairAs when his lucid wings conveyedThat beautiful and gentle maidPsyche, transported through the air,The blissful couch of Love's own god to share.Winter, avaunt! thy haggard eyeWill scare him, as he wanders by,Him and the timid butterfly.He brings again the morn of May;The lark, amid the clear blue sky,Carols, but is not seen so high,And all the winter's winds fly far away!I cried: O Father of the world, whose mightThe storm, the darkness, and the winds obey,Oh, when will thus the long tempestuous nightOf warfare and of woe be rolled away!Oh, when will cease the uproar and the din,And Peace breathe soft, Summer is coming in!
Words in this poem 15
- carpathian a.
- Of or pertaining to a range of mountains in Austro-Hungary, called the Carpathians, which partially inclose Hungary on the north, east, and south.
- hoar v. t.
- To become moldy or musty. [AS. harian to grow gray.]
- trackless a.
- Having no track; marked by no footsteps; untrodden; as, a trackless desert.
- wildering n.
- A plant growing in a state of nature; especially, one which has run wild, or escaped from cultivation.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- vest n.
- An article of clothing covering the person; an outer garment; a vestment; a dress; a vesture; a robe. [L. vestis a garment, vesture; akin to Goth. wasti, and E. wear: cf. F. veste. See Wear to carry on the person, and cf. Divest, Invest, Travesty.]
- zephyr n.
- The west wind; poetically, any soft, gentle breeze. [L. zephyrus, Gr. zéphyr.]
- psyche n.
- A lovely maiden, daughter of a king and mistress of Eros, or Cupid. She is regarded as the personification of the soul.
- blissful a.
- Full of, characterized by, or causing, joy and felicity; happy in the highest degree.
- avaunt v. t.
- To advance; to move forward; to elevate.
- haggard a.
- Wild or intractable; disposed to break away from duty; untamed; as, a haggard or refractory hawk. Shak [F. hagard; of German origin, and prop. meaning, of the hegde or woods, wild, untamed. See Hedge, 1st Haw, and -ard.]
- scare v. t.
- To frighten; to strike with sudden fear; to alarm. [OE. skerren, skeren, Icel. skirra to bar, prevent, skirrask to shun , shrink from; or fr. OE. skerre, adj., scared, Icel. skjarr; both perhaps akin to E. sheer ]
- 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.]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
East Wind is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of William Lisle Bowles, Vol. 1 With Memoir, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes by George Gilfillan, Project Gutenberg ebook #18915; 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 Lisle Bowles, East Wind, in The Poetical Works, Volume I (1789–1837), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18915, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bowles-sonnets/east-wind.html, id L09975.
Form and metre
East Wind is 39 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 56% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.6 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 23% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic 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 -AABBCCDDEEFFGG--HHIIJKKJJLLLMLLMNMNMOO war · flightA · nightA · speedsB · reedsB · hoarC · froreC · unfoldsD · woldsD · restE · westE · lamentF · wentF · scornG · hornG · merrily · fly · vestH · westH · headI · shedI · fairJ · conveyedK · maidK · airJ · shareJ · eyeL · byL · butterflyL · mayM · skyL · highL · awayM · mightN · obeyM · nightN · awayM · dinO · inO
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Shouts, and the noise of war! | 6 | ······ |
| Far o'er the land hath been my flight, | 8 | ········ |
| O'er many a forest dark as night, | 9 | ·/˘·/˘··· |
| O'er champaigns where the Tartar speeds, | 8 | ·˘/··/˘· |
| O'er Wolga's wild and giant reeds, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| O'er the Carpathian summits hoar, | 9 | ··˘/˘˘/˘· |
| Beneath whose snows and shadows frore, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Poland's level length unfolds | 7 | /˘/˘·˘/ |
| Her trackless woods and wildering wolds, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘˘· |
| Like a spirit, seeking rest, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| I have passed from east to west, | 7 | ······· |
| While sounds of discord and lament | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Rose from the earth where'er I went. | 9 | ····˘˘/·· |
| I care not; hurrying, as in scorn, | 9 | ···/˘˘··· |
| I shook my lance, and blew my horn; | 8 | ········ |
| The day shows clear; and merrily | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Along the Atlantic now I fly. | 9 | ˘/·˘/˘··· |
| Who comes in soft and spicy vest, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| From the mild regions of the West? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| An azure veil bends waving o'er his head, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And showers of violets from his hands are shed. | 10 | ·/·/˘····· |
| 'Tis Zephyr, with a look as young and fair | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| As when his lucid wings conveyed | 9 | ···/˘·˘/˘ |
| That beautiful and gentle maid | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| Psyche, transported through the air, | 8 | /˘˘/˘··· |
| The blissful couch of Love's own god to share. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Winter, avaunt! thy haggard eye | 8 | /˘˘/·/˘· |
| Will scare him, as he wanders by, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Him and the timid butterfly. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| He brings again the morn of May; | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| The lark, amid the clear blue sky, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Carols, but is not seen so high, | 8 | /˘······ |
| And all the winter's winds fly far away! | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| I cried: O Father of the world, whose might | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The storm, the darkness, and the winds obey, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Oh, when will thus the long tempestuous night | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Of warfare and of woe be rolled away! | 10 | ·/······˘/ |
| Oh, when will cease the uproar and the din, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| And Peace breathe soft, Summer is coming in! | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
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.