Evening
Evening! as slow thy placid shades descend,Veiling with gentlest hush the landscape still,The lonely, battlement, the farthest hillAnd wood, I think of those who have no friend;Who now, perhaps, by melancholy led,From the broad blaze of day, where pleasure flaunts,Retiring, wander to the ring-dove's hauntsUnseen; and watch the tints that o'er thy bedHang lovely; oft to musing Fancy's eyePresenting fairy vales, where the tired mindMight rest beyond the murmurs of mankind,Nor hear the hourly moans of misery!Alas for man! that Hope's fair views the whileShould smile like you, and perish as they smile!
Words in this poem
- placid a.
- Pleased; contented; unruffied; undisturbed; serene; peaceful; tranquil; quiet; gentle. [L. placidus, originally, pleasing, mild, from placere to please: cf. F. placide. See Please.]
- veiling n.
- A veil; a thin covering; also, material for making veils.
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- hourly a.
- Happening or done every hour; occurring hour by hour; frequent; often repeated; renewed hour by hour; continual.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Evening 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, Evening, in The Poetical Works, Volume I (1789–1837), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18915, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bowles-sonnets/evening.html, id L09879.
Form and metre
Evening is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDEFEFGG, the pattern of the English sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 43% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other English sonnets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABABCDCDEFEFGG descendA · stillB · hillA · friendB · ledC · flauntsD · hauntsC · bedD · eyeE · mindF · mankindE · miseryF · whileG · smileG
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Evening! as slow thy placid shades descend, | 10 | /˘···/˘·˘/ |
| Veiling with gentlest hush the landscape still, | 10 | /˘·/˘··/·· |
| The lonely, battlement, the farthest hill | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| And wood, I think of those who have no friend; | 10 | ·········· |
| Who now, perhaps, by melancholy led, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘·˘· |
| From the broad blaze of day, where pleasure flaunts, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Retiring, wander to the ring-dove's haunts | 10 | ˘/˘/˘····· |
| Unseen; and watch the tints that o'er thy bed | 10 | ˘/········ |
| Hang lovely; oft to musing Fancy's eye | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Presenting fairy vales, where the tired mind | 10 | ˘/˘/˘···/· |
| Might rest beyond the murmurs of mankind, | 10 | ·····/˘·// |
| Nor hear the hourly moans of misery! | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| Alas for man! that Hope's fair views the while | 10 | ˘/········ |
| Should smile like you, and perish as they smile! | 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.