L. B. C. L. M
I love all beauteous things,I seek and adore them;God hath no better praise,And man in his hasty daysIs honoured for them.
I too will something makeAnd joy in the making;Altho' to-morrow it seemLike the empty words of a dreamRemembered on waking.
My spirit sang all dayO my joy.Nothing my tongue could say,Only My joy!
My heart an echo caught--O my joy--And spake, Tell me thy thought,Hide not thy joy.
My eyes gan peer around,--O my joy--What beauty hast thou found?Shew us thy joy.
My jealous ears grew whist;--O my joy--Music from heaven is't,Sent for our joy?
She also came and heard;O my joy,What, said she, is this word?What is thy joy?
And I replied, O see,O my joy,'Tis thee, I cried, 'tis thee:Thou art my joy.
The upper skies are palest blueMottled with pearl and fretted snow:With tattered fleece of inky hueClose overhead the storm-clouds go.
Their shadows fly along the hillAnd o'er the crest mount one by one:The whitened planking of the millIs now in shade and now in sun.
The clouds have left the sky,The wind hath left the sea,The half-moon up on highShrinketh her face of dree
She lightens on the combOf leaden waves, that roarAnd thrust their hurried foamUp on the dusky shore.
Behind the western barsThe shrouded day retreats,And unperceived the starsSteal to their sovran seats.
And whiter grows the foam,The small moon lightens more;And as I turn me home,My shadow walks before.
Words in this poem
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
- adore v. t.
- To worship with profound reverence; to pay divine honors to; to honor as deity or as divine. [OE. aouren, anouren, adoren, OF. aorer, adorer, F. adorer, fr. L. adorare; ad + orare to speak, pray, os, oris, mouth. In OE. confused with honor, the French pr]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- shew n.
- Show. [Obs. except in shewbread.]
- whist v. t.
- To hush or silence. [From Whist, interj.]
- planking n.
- The act of laying planks; also, planks, collectively; a series of planks in place, as the wooden covering of the frame of a vessel.
- dree v. i.
- To be able to do or endure.
- sovran a.
- A variant of Sovereign.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
L. B. C. L. M 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, L. B. C. L. M, in The Growth of Love, and Other Poems (1873–1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #37804, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bridges-shorter-poems/l-b-c-l-m.html, id L01769.
Form and metre
L. B. C. L. M is 58 lines in 14 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 12 of its 14 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.9 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 28% 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 -ABBA things · themA · praiseB · daysB · themA
- 2 -ABBA make · makingA · seemB · dreamB · wakingA
- 3 ABAB dayA · joyB · sayA · joyB
- 4 ABAB caughtA · joyB · thoughtA · joyB
- 5 ABAB aroundA · joyB · foundA · joyB
- 6 ABAB whistA · joyB · is'tA · joyB
- 7 ABAB heardA · joyB · wordA · joyB
- 8 ABAB seeA · joyB · theeA · joyB
- 9 ABAB blueA · snowB · hueA · goB
- 10 ABAB hillA · oneB · millA · sunB
- 11 ABAB skyA · seaB · highA · dreeB
- 12 ABAB combA · roarB · foamA · shoreB
- 13 ABAB barsA · retreatsB · starsA · seatsB
- 14 ABAB foamA · moreB · homeA · beforeB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I love all beauteous things, | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| I seek and adore them; | 6 | ···˘/· |
| God hath no better praise, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And man in his hasty days | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Is honoured for them. | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| I too will something make | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And joy in the making; | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Altho' to-morrow it seem | 7 | ˘/·/˘·· |
| Like the empty words of a dream | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Remembered on waking. | 6 | ˘/˘·/˘ |
| My spirit sang all day | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| O my joy. | 3 | ··· |
| Nothing my tongue could say, | 6 | /˘···· |
| Only My joy! | 4 | /˘·· |
| My heart an echo caught-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| O my joy-- | 3 | ··· |
| And spake, Tell me thy thought, | 6 | ······ |
| Hide not thy joy. | 4 | ···· |
| My eyes gan peer around,-- | 6 | ······ |
| O my joy-- | 3 | ··· |
| What beauty hast thou found? | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Shew us thy joy. | 4 | ···· |
| My jealous ears grew whist;-- | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| O my joy-- | 3 | ··· |
| Music from heaven is't, | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| Sent for our joy? | 5 | ··/˘· |
| She also came and heard; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| O my joy, | 3 | ··· |
| What, said she, is this word? | 6 | ······ |
| What is thy joy? | 4 | ···· |
| And I replied, O see, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| O my joy, | 3 | ··· |
| 'Tis thee, I cried, 'tis thee: | 6 | ······ |
| Thou art my joy. | 4 | ···· |
| The upper skies are palest blue | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Mottled with pearl and fretted snow: | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| With tattered fleece of inky hue | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Close overhead the storm-clouds go. | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| Their shadows fly along the hill | 8 | ·/··˘/·· |
| And o'er the crest mount one by one: | 8 | ········ |
| The whitened planking of the mill | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Is now in shade and now in sun. | 8 | ········ |
| The clouds have left the sky, | 6 | ······ |
| The wind hath left the sea, | 6 | ······ |
| The half-moon up on high | 6 | ······ |
| Shrinketh her face of dree | 6 | /˘···· |
| She lightens on the comb | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Of leaden waves, that roar | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And thrust their hurried foam | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Up on the dusky shore. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Behind the western bars | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The shrouded day retreats, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| And unperceived the stars | 6 | ······ |
| Steal to their sovran seats. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And whiter grows the foam, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The small moon lightens more; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And as I turn me home, | 6 | ······ |
| My shadow walks before. | 6 | ·/···· |
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.