Part II: To the Evening Star
Gem of the crimson-coloured Even,Companion of retiring day,Why at the closing gates of Heaven,Belovèd star dost thou delay?
So fair thy pensile beauty burns,When soft the tear of twilight flows;So due thy plighted love returns,To chambers brighter than the rose,
To Peace, to Pleasure, and to Love,So kind a star thou seem’st to be,Sure some enamoured orb aboveDescends and burns to meet with thee.
Thine is the breathing, blushing hour,When all unheavenly passions fly,Chased by the soul-subduing powerOf Love’s delicious witchery.
O! sacred to the fall of day,Queen of propitious stars appear,And early rise and long delay,When Caroline herself is here!
Shine on her chosen green resort,Whose trees the sunward summit crown,And wanton flowers that well may courtAn angel’s feet to tread them down.
Shine on her sweetly-scented road,Thou star of evening’s purple dome,That lead’st the nightingale abroad,And guid’st the pilgrim to his home.
Shine, where my charmer’s sweeter breathEmbalms the soft exhaling dew,Where dying winds a sigh bequeathTo kiss the cheek of rosy hue.
Where, winnowed by the gentle air,Her silken tresses darkly flow,And fall upon her brow so fair,Like shadows on the mountain snow.
Thus, ever thus, at day’s decline,In converse sweet, to wander far,O bring with thee my Caroline,And thou shalt be my ruling star!
Words in this poem
- coloured a.
- Having color; tinged; dyed; painted; stained.
- pensile a.
- Hanging; suspended; pendent; pendulous. [L. pensilis, fr. pendere to hang: cf. OE. pensil. See Pendant.]
- witchery
- Sorcery; enchantment; witchcraft.
- caroline n.
- A silver coin once current in some parts of Italy, worth about seven cents. Simmonds. [F. carin; cf. It. carlino; -- so called from Carlo (Charles) VI. of Naples.]
- sunward adv.
- Toward the sun.
- charmer n.
- One who charms, or has power to charm; one who uses the power of enchantment; a magician. Deut. xviii. 11.
- bequeath v. t.
- To give or leave by will; to give by testament; -- said especially of personal property. [OE. biquethen, AS. becwe to say, affirm, bequeath; pref. be- + cwe to say, speak. See Quoth.]
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Part II: To the Evening Star is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell, Project Gutenberg ebook #59788; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Campbell, Part II: To the Evening Star, in The Pleasures of Hope, and Other Poems (1824), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59788, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/campbell-poems/part-ii-to-the-evening-star.html, id L24457.
Form and metre
Part II: To the Evening Star is 40 lines in 10 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 6 of its 10 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%).
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 -A-A even · dayA · heaven · delayA
- 2 ABAB burnsA · flowsB · returnsA · roseB
- 3 ABAB loveA · beB · aboveA · theeB
- 4 A-A- hourA · fly · powerA · witchery
- 5 ABAB dayA · appearB · delayA · hereB
- 6 ABAB resortA · crownB · courtA · downB
- 7 -A-A road · domeA · abroad · homeA
- 8 -A-A breath · dewA · bequeath · hueA
- 9 ABAB airA · flowB · fairA · snowB
- 10 ABAB declineA · farB · carolineA · starB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Gem of the crimson-coloured Even, | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| Companion of retiring day, | 8 | ˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Why at the closing gates of Heaven, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Belovèd star dost thou delay? | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| So fair thy pensile beauty burns, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| When soft the tear of twilight flows; | 8 | ·····/·· |
| So due thy plighted love returns, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| To chambers brighter than the rose, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| To Peace, to Pleasure, and to Love, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| So kind a star thou seem’st to be, | 8 | ········ |
| Sure some enamoured orb above | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Descends and burns to meet with thee. | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Thine is the breathing, blushing hour, | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| When all unheavenly passions fly, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Chased by the soul-subduing power | 9 | ····˘/˘/˘ |
| Of Love’s delicious witchery. | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘˘ |
| O! sacred to the fall of day, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Queen of propitious stars appear, | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| And early rise and long delay, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| When Caroline herself is here! | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Shine on her chosen green resort, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Whose trees the sunward summit crown, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And wanton flowers that well may court | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| An angel’s feet to tread them down. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Shine on her sweetly-scented road, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Thou star of evening’s purple dome, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| That lead’st the nightingale abroad, | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| And guid’st the pilgrim to his home. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Shine, where my charmer’s sweeter breath | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Embalms the soft exhaling dew, | 8 | ˘/··˘/˘· |
| Where dying winds a sigh bequeath | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| To kiss the cheek of rosy hue. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Where, winnowed by the gentle air, | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| Her silken tresses darkly flow, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| And fall upon her brow so fair, | 8 | ········ |
| Like shadows on the mountain snow. | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| Thus, ever thus, at day’s decline, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| In converse sweet, to wander far, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| O bring with thee my Caroline, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And thou shalt be my ruling star! | 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.