A Vignette
Among the meadowslightly going,With worship and joymy heart o'erflowing,
Far from townand toil of living,To a holy daymy spirit giving,...
Thou tender flower,I kneel beside theeWondering why Godso beautified thee.--
An answering thoughtwithin me springeth,A bloom of the mindher vision bringeth.
Between the dim hill'sdistant azureAnd flowery foregroundof sparkling pleasure
I see the companyof figures sainted,For whom the pictureof earth was painted.
Those robèd seerswho made man's storyThe crown of Nature,Her cause his glory.
They walk in the citywhich they have builded,The city of Godfrom evil shielded:
To them for canopythe vault of heaven,The flowery earthfor carpet is given;
Whereon I wandernot unknowing,With worship and joymy heart o'erflowing.
Words in this poem
- kneel v. i.
- To bend the knee; to fall or rest on the knees; -- sometimes with down. [OE. knelen, cneolien; akin to D. knielen, Dan. knæle. See Knee.]
- sainted a.
- Consecrated; sacred; holy; pious.
- whereon adv.
- On which; -- used relatively; as, the earth whereon we live.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Vignette is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Robert Bridges, Excluding the Eight Dramas, Project Gutenberg ebook #37804; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Bridges, A Vignette, in The Growth of Love, and Other Poems (1873–1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #37804, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bridges-shorter-poems/a-vignette.html, id L01827.
Form and metre
A Vignette is 40 lines in 10 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 4.9 syllables. 23 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 55% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 -A-A meadows · goingA · joy · o'erflowingA
- 2 -A-A town · livingA · day · givingA
- 3 -A-A flower · theeA · god · theeA
- 4 -A-A thought · springethA · mind · bringethA
- 6 -A-A company · saintedA · picture · paintedA
- 7 -A-A seers · storyA · nature · gloryA
- 8 -AAA city · buildedA · godA · shieldedA
- 10 -A-A wander · unknowingA · joy · o'erflowingA
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Among the meadows | 5 | ···/· |
| lightly going, | 4 | /˘/˘ |
| With worship and joy | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| my heart o'erflowing, | 5 | ····· |
| Far from town | 3 | ··· |
| and toil of living, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| To a holy day | 5 | ··/˘· |
| my spirit giving,... | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Thou tender flower, | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| I kneel beside thee | 5 | ··˘/· |
| Wondering why God | 5 | /˘˘·· |
| so beautified thee.-- | 4 | ···· |
| An answering thought | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| within me springeth, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| A bloom of the mind | 5 | ····· |
| her vision bringeth. | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Between the dim hill's | 5 | ····· |
| distant azure | 4 | /˘/˘ |
| And flowery foreground | 5 | ·/˘/· |
| of sparkling pleasure | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| I see the company | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| of figures sainted, | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| For whom the picture | 5 | ···/˘ |
| of earth was painted. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Those robèd seers | 3 | ··· |
| who made man's story | 5 | ···/˘ |
| The crown of Nature, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Her cause his glory. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| They walk in the city | 6 | ····/˘ |
| which they have builded, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| The city of God | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| from evil shielded: | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| To them for canopy | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| the vault of heaven, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| The flowery earth | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| for carpet is given; | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| Whereon I wander | 5 | ˘/·/˘ |
| not unknowing, | 4 | ·˘/˘ |
| With worship and joy | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| my heart o'erflowing. | 5 | ····· |
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.