"When the Firmament Quivers with Daylight's Young Beam"
When the firmament quivers with daylight's young beam,And the woodlands awaking burst into a hymn,And the glow of the sky blazes back from the stream,How the bright ones of heaven in the brightness grow dim.
Oh! 'tis sad, in that moment of glory and song,To see, while the hill-tops are waiting the sun,The glittering band that kept watch all night longO'er Love and o'er Slumber, go out one by one:
Till the circle of ether, deep, ruddy, and vast,Scarce glimmers with one of the train that were there;And their leader the day-star, the brightest and last,Twinkles faintly and fades in that desert of air.
Thus, Oblivion, from midst of whose shadow we came,Steals o'er us again when life's twilight is gone;And the crowd of bright names, in the heaven of fame,Grow pale and are quenched as the years hasten on.
Let them fade--but we'll pray that the age, in whose flight,Of ourselves and our friends the remembrance shall dieMay rise o'er the world, with the gladness and lightOf the morning that withers the stars from the sky.
Words in this poem
- firmament n.
- Fixed foundation; established basis. [L. firmamentum, fr. firmare to make firm: cf. F. firmament. See Firm, v. & a.]
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- oblivion n.
- The act of forgetting, or the state of being forgotten; cessation of remembrance; forgetfulness. [L. oblivio, akin to oblivisci to forget: cf. OF. oblivion.]
- 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,]
- withers n.
- The ridge between the shoulder bones of a horse, at the base of the neck. See Illust. of Horse. [Properly, the parts which resist the pull or strain in drawing a load; fr. OE. wither resistance, AS. withre, fr. wither against; akin to G. widerrist withers. ]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
"When the Firmament Quivers with Daylight's Young Beam" 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, "When the Firmament Quivers with Daylight's Young Beam", in Poems (1821–1876), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16341, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bryant-poems/when-the-firmament-quivers-with-daylight-s-young-beam.html, id L07315.
Form and metre
"When the Firmament Quivers with Daylight's Young Beam" is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 86% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.6 syllables. 15% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in anapaestic 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 ABAB beamA · hymnB · streamA · dimB
- 2 ABAB songA · sunB · longA · oneB
- 3 ABAB vastA · thereB · lastA · airB
- 4 ABAB cameA · goneB · fameA · onB
- 5 ABAB flightA · dieB · lightA · skyB
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| When the firmament quivers with daylight's young beam, | 12 | ··/˘˘/˘·/··· |
| And the woodlands awaking burst into a hymn, | 12 | ··/·˘/˘····· |
| And the glow of the sky blazes back from the stream, | 12 | ······/˘···· |
| How the bright ones of heaven in the brightness grow dim. | 12 | ·····/··/˘·· |
| Oh! 'tis sad, in that moment of glory and song, | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| To see, while the hill-tops are waiting the sun, | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| The glittering band that kept watch all night long | 11 | ·/˘˘······· |
| O'er Love and o'er Slumber, go out one by one: | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| Till the circle of ether, deep, ruddy, and vast, | 12 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| Scarce glimmers with one of the train that were there; | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| And their leader the day-star, the brightest and last, | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| Twinkles faintly and fades in that desert of air. | 12 | /˘/˘····/˘·· |
| Thus, Oblivion, from midst of whose shadow we came, | 12 | ·˘/˘····/··· |
| Steals o'er us again when life's twilight is gone; | 11 | ···˘/··/··· |
| And the crowd of bright names, in the heaven of fame, | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| Grow pale and are quenched as the years hasten on. | 12 | ·····˘···/˘· |
| Let them fade--but we'll pray that the age, in whose flight, | 12 | ············ |
| Of ourselves and our friends the remembrance shall die | 12 | ·˘/·/··˘/˘·· |
| May rise o'er the world, with the gladness and light | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Of the morning that withers the stars from the sky. | 12 | ··/˘·/˘····· |
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.