From Wm. Blake
Come, rosy angel, thy coronet donningOf starry j[=ew]els, smile upon ev'ry bed,And grant what each day-weary mortal,Labourer or lover, asketh of thee.
Smile thou on our loves, enveloping the landWith dusky curtain: consider each blossomThat timely upcloseth, that opensHer treasure of heavy-laden odours.
Now, while the west-wind slumbereth on the lake,Silently dost thou with delicate shimmerO'erbloom the frowning front of awfulNight to a glance of unearthly silver.
No hungry wild beast rangeth in our forest,No tiger or wolf prowleth around the fold:Keep thou from our sheepcotes the taintingInvisible peril of the darkness.
Words in this poem
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- shimmer v. i.
- To shine with a tremulous or intermittent light; to shine faintly; to gleam; to glisten; to glimmer. [OE. schimeren, AS. scimerian; akin to scimian, sciman, to glitter, D. schemeren, G. schimmern, Dan. skimre, Sw. skimra, AS. scima a light, brightness, Icel. ski]
- unearthly a.
- Not terrestrial; supernatural; preternatural; hence, weird; appalling; terrific; as, an unearthly sight or sound.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
From Wm. Blake 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, From Wm. Blake, in The Growth of Love, and Other Poems (1873–1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #37804, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bridges-shorter-poems/from-wm-blake.html, id L01847.
Form and metre
From Wm. Blake is 16 lines in 4 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%). 81% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 11 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 44% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter, other poems in blank verse.
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Come, rosy angel, thy coronet donning | 11 | ·/˘/˘·/˘//˘ |
| Of starry j[=ew]els, smile upon ev'ry bed, | 12 | ·/˘········· |
| And grant what each day-weary mortal, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Labourer or lover, asketh of thee. | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| Smile thou on our loves, enveloping the land | 10 | ···/·˘/˘·· |
| With dusky curtain: consider each blossom | 11 | ·/˘/˘˘/˘·/˘ |
| That timely upcloseth, that opens | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Her treasure of heavy-laden odours. | 10 | ·/˘·/˘/˘/˘ |
| Now, while the west-wind slumbereth on the lake, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Silently dost thou with delicate shimmer | 11 | /˘˘···/˘˘/˘ |
| O'erbloom the frowning front of awful | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Night to a glance of unearthly silver. | 10 | ·····˘/˘/˘ |
| No hungry wild beast rangeth in our forest, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘·//˘ |
| No tiger or wolf prowleth around the fold: | 10 | ·/··/˘···· |
| Keep thou from our sheepcotes the tainting | 10 | ···/˘···/˘ |
| Invisible peril of the darkness. | 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.