Song
Close up, bright flow'rs, and hang the head,Ye beauties of the plain,The Queen of Spring is with the dead,Ye deck the earth in vain.From your deserted vale we fly,And where the salt waves mournOur song shall swell their burd'ning sighUntil sweet joy return.
Lo where the virgin veilëd in airy beams,All-holy Morn, in splendor awakening,Heav'n's gate hath unbarrèd, the goldenAerial lattices set open.
With music endeth night's prisoning terror,With flow'ry incense: Haste to salute the sun,That for the day's chase, like a huntsman,With flashing arms cometh o'er the mountain.
Inter se. That were a song for Artemis--I have heardMen thus salute the rising sun in spring----See, we have wreaths enough and garlands plentyTo hide our lov'd Persephone from sightIf she should come.--But think you she will come?--If one might trust the heavens, it is a mornPromising happiness--'Tis like the dayThat brought us all our grief a year ago.--
Words in this poem
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- huntsman n.
- One who hunts, or who practices hunting.
- promising a.
- Making a promise or promises; affording hope or assurance; as, promising person; a promising day.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Song 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, Song, in The Growth of Love, and Other Poems (1873–1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #37804, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bridges-shorter-poems/song.html, id L01733.
Form and metre
Song is 24 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.3 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 ABABC-C- headA · plainB · deadA · vainB · flyC · mourn · sighC · return
- 3 -AAA terror · sunA · huntsmanA · mountainA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Close up, bright flow'rs, and hang the head, | 8 | ········ |
| Ye beauties of the plain, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The Queen of Spring is with the dead, | 8 | ········ |
| Ye deck the earth in vain. | 6 | ······ |
| From your deserted vale we fly, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| And where the salt waves mourn | 6 | ······ |
| Our song shall swell their burd'ning sigh | 9 | /˘······· |
| Until sweet joy return. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Lo where the virgin veilëd in airy beams, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| All-holy Morn, in splendor awakening, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Heav'n's gate hath unbarrèd, the golden | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Aerial lattices set open. | 9 | /˘˘/˘˘·/˘ |
| With music endeth night's prisoning terror, | 11 | ·/˘···/˘˘/˘ |
| With flow'ry incense: Haste to salute the sun, | 11 | ···˘/··˘/·· |
| That for the day's chase, like a huntsman, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| With flashing arms cometh o'er the mountain. | 10 | ·/˘·/˘··/˘ |
| Inter se. That were a song for Artemis--I have heard | 15 | ˘/·/··········· |
| Men thus salute the rising sun in spring-- | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| --See, we have wreaths enough and garlands plenty | 11 | ····˘/·/˘/˘ |
| To hide our lov'd Persephone from sight | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| If she should come.--But think you she will come?-- | 10 | ·········· |
| If one might trust the heavens, it is a morn | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| Promising happiness--'Tis like the day | 10 | /˘˘/˘˘···· |
| That brought us all our grief a year ago.-- | 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.