Stanzas for Music
There be none of Beauty's daughtersWith a magic like thee;And like music on the watersIs thy sweet voice to me:When, as if its sound were causingThe charmed Ocean's pausing,The waves lie still and gleaming,And the lulled winds seem dreaming:
And the midnight Moon is weavingHer bright chain o'er the deep;Whose breast is gently heaving,As an infant's asleep:So the spirit bows before thee,To listen and adore thee;With a full but soft emotion,Like the swell of Summer's ocean.
Words in this poem
- 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]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Stanzas for Music is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Works of Lord Byron. Vol. 3, Project Gutenberg ebook #21811; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Lord Byron, Stanzas for Music, in The Giaour, and Other Poems (1816), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21811, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/byron-works-3/stanzas-for-music-4.html, id L23981.
Form and metre
Stanzas for Music is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCCDD. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%).
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 ABABCCDD daughtersA · theeB · watersA · meB · causingC · pausingC · gleamingD · dreamingD
- 2 ABABCCDD weavingA · deepB · heavingA · asleepB · theeC · theeC · emotionD · oceanD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| There be none of Beauty's daughters | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| With a magic like thee; | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| And like music on the waters | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Is thy sweet voice to me: | 6 | ······ |
| When, as if its sound were causing | 8 | ······/˘ |
| The charmed Ocean's pausing, | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| The waves lie still and gleaming, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And the lulled winds seem dreaming: | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And the midnight Moon is weaving | 8 | ··/···/˘ |
| Her bright chain o'er the deep; | 6 | ······ |
| Whose breast is gently heaving, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| As an infant's asleep: | 6 | ··/˘˘/ |
| So the spirit bows before thee, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| To listen and adore thee; | 7 | ·/˘·˘/· |
| With a full but soft emotion, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Like the swell of Summer's ocean. | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
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.