Larks
What voice of gladness, hark!In heaven is ringing?From the sad fields the larkIs upward winging.
High through the mournful mist that blots our dayTheir songs betray them soaring in the grey.See them! Nay, theyIn sunlight swim; above the furthest stainOf cloud attain; their hearts in music rainUpon the plain.
Sweet birds, far out of sightYour songs of pleasureDome us with joy as brightAs heaven's best azure.
About this text
Larks 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, Larks, in Poetical Works (1873–1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #37804, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bridges-shorter-poems/larks.html, id L01778.
Form and metre
Larks is 14 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.7 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 57% 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 ABAB harkA · ringingB · larkA · wingingB
- 2 AAABBB dayA · greyA · theyA · stainB · rainB · plainB
- 3 A-A- sightA · pleasure · brightA · azure
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 |
|---|---|---|
| What voice of gladness, hark! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| In heaven is ringing? | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| From the sad fields the lark | 6 | ······ |
| Is upward winging. | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| High through the mournful mist that blots our day | 10 | ···/˘···/· |
| Their songs betray them soaring in the grey. | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| See them! Nay, they | 4 | ···· |
| In sunlight swim; above the furthest stain | 10 | ·/·····/˘· |
| Of cloud attain; their hearts in music rain | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Upon the plain. | 4 | ···· |
| Sweet birds, far out of sight | 6 | ······ |
| Your songs of pleasure | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Dome us with joy as bright | 6 | ······ |
| As heaven's best azure. | 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.