The Arctic Lover
Gone is the long, long winter night;Look, my beloved one!How glorious, through his depths of light,Rolls the majestic sun!The willows, waked from winter's death,Give out a fragrance like thy breath--The summer is begun!
Ay, 'tis the long bright summer day:Hark, to that mighty crash!The loosened ice-ridge breaks away--The smitten waters flash.Seaward the glittering mountain rides,While, down its green translucent sides,The foamy torrents dash.
See, love, my boat is moored for thee,By ocean's weedy floor--The petrel does not skim the seaMore swiftly than my oar.We'll go, where, on the rocky isles,Her eggs the screaming sea-fowl pilesBeside the pebbly shore.
Or, bide thou where the poppy blows,With wind-flowers frail and fair,While I, upon his isle of snows,Seek and defy the bear.Fierce though he be, and huge of frame,This arm his savage strength shall tame,And drag him from his lair.
When crimson sky and flamy cloudBespeak the summer o'er,And the dead valleys wear a shroudOf snows that melt no more,I'll build of ice thy winter home,With glistening walls and glassy dome,And spread with skins the floor.
The white fox by thy couch shall play;And, from the frozen skies,The meteors of a mimic dayShall flash upon thine eyes.And I--for such thy vow--meanwhileShall hear thy voice and see thy smile,Till that long midnight flies.
Words in this poem
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- seaward a.
- Directed or situated toward the sea. Donne.
- weedy a.
- Of or pertaining to weeds; consisting of weeds.
- screaming a.
- Uttering screams; shrieking.
- pebbly a.
- Full of pebbles; pebbled.
- bide v. i.
- To dwell; to inhabit; to abide; to stay. [OE. biden, AS. bidan; akin to OHG. bitan, Goth. beidan, Icel. bi; perh. orig., to wait with trust, and akin to bid. See Bid, v. t., and cf. Abide.]
- isle v. t.
- To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
- defy v. t.
- To renounce or dissolve all bonds of affiance, faith, or obligation with; to reject, refuse, or renounce. [F. défier, OF. deffier, desfier, LL. disfidare to disown faith or fidelity, to dissolve the bond of allegiance, as between the vassal and his lord; hence, to ch]
- 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,]
- lair n.
- A place in which to lie or rest; especially, the bed or couch of a wild beast. [OE. leir, AS. leger; akin to D. leger, G. lager couch, lair, OHG. laga, Goth. ligrs, and to E. lie. See Lie to be prostrate, and cf. Layer, Leaguer.]
- flamy a.
- Flaming; blazing; flamelike; flame-colored; composed of flame. [From Flame.]
- bespeak v. t.
- To speak or arrange for beforehand; to order or engage against a future time; as, to bespeak goods, a right, or a favor. [OE. bispeken, AS. besprecan, to speak to, accuse; pref. be- + sprecan to speak. See Speak.]
- meanwhile n.
- The intervening time; as, in the meantime (or mean time).
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Arctic Lover is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems by William Cullen Bryant, Project Gutenberg ebook #16341; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Cullen Bryant, The Arctic Lover, in Poems (1821–1876), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16341, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bryant-poems/the-arctic-lover.html, id L07323.
Form and metre
The Arctic Lover is 42 lines in 6 stanzas of 7 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCCB, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.3 syllables. 14% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 ABABCCB nightA · oneB · lightA · sunB · deathC · breathC · begunB
- 2 ABABCCB dayA · crashB · awayA · flashB · ridesC · sidesC · dashB
- 3 ABABCCB theeA · floorB · seaA · oarB · islesC · pilesC · shoreB
- 4 ABABCCB blowsA · fairB · snowsA · bearB · frameC · tameC · lairB
- 5 A-ABCCB cloudA · o'er · shroudA · moreB · homeC · domeC · floorB
- 6 ABABCCB playA · skiesB · dayA · eyesB · meanwhileC · smileC · fliesB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Gone is the long, long winter night; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Look, my beloved one! | 5 | ··˘/· |
| How glorious, through his depths of light, | 9 | ·/˘˘····· |
| Rolls the majestic sun! | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| The willows, waked from winter's death, | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| Give out a fragrance like thy breath-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The summer is begun! | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Ay, 'tis the long bright summer day: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Hark, to that mighty crash! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The loosened ice-ridge breaks away-- | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The smitten waters flash. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Seaward the glittering mountain rides, | 9 | /˘·/˘˘/˘· |
| While, down its green translucent sides, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| The foamy torrents dash. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| See, love, my boat is moored for thee, | 8 | ········ |
| By ocean's weedy floor-- | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| The petrel does not skim the sea | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| More swiftly than my oar. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| We'll go, where, on the rocky isles, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Her eggs the screaming sea-fowl piles | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Beside the pebbly shore. | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| Or, bide thou where the poppy blows, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With wind-flowers frail and fair, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| While I, upon his isle of snows, | 8 | ········ |
| Seek and defy the bear. | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Fierce though he be, and huge of frame, | 8 | ········ |
| This arm his savage strength shall tame, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And drag him from his lair. | 6 | ······ |
| When crimson sky and flamy cloud | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Bespeak the summer o'er, | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| And the dead valleys wear a shroud | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Of snows that melt no more, | 6 | ······ |
| I'll build of ice thy winter home, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With glistening walls and glassy dome, | 9 | ·/˘˘··/˘· |
| And spread with skins the floor. | 6 | ······ |
| The white fox by thy couch shall play; | 8 | ········ |
| And, from the frozen skies, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The meteors of a mimic day | 9 | ·/˘˘··/˘· |
| Shall flash upon thine eyes. | 6 | ······ |
| And I--for such thy vow--meanwhile | 8 | ······/· |
| Shall hear thy voice and see thy smile, | 8 | ········ |
| Till that long midnight flies. | 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.