White Iris
White Iris was a princessIn a kingdom long ago,Mysterious as moonlightAnd silent as the snow.
She drew the world in wonderAnd swayed it with desire,Ere Babylon was buildedOr a stone laid in Tyre.
Yet here within my gardenHer loveliness appears,Undimmed by any sorrowOf all the tragic years.
How kind that earth should treasureSo beautiful a thing--All mystical enchantment,To stir our hearts in spring!
Words in this poem
- princess n.
- A female prince; a woman having sovereign power, or the rank of a prince. [F. princesse. See Prince, and cf. Princesse.]
- swayed a.
- Bent down, and hollow in the back; sway-backed; -- said of a horse.
- tyre n.
- Attire. See 2d and 3d Tire.
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
White Iris is in the public domain. This text is taken from Later Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #33417; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Bliss Carman, White Iris, in Later Poems (1921), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #33417, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/carman-later-poems/white-iris.html, id L11024.
Form and metre
White Iris is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.8 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 44% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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 princess · agoA · moonlight · snowA
- 3 -A-A garden · appearsA · sorrow · yearsA
- 4 -A-A treasure · thingA · enchantment · springA
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| White Iris was a princess | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| In a kingdom long ago, | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Mysterious as moonlight | 7 | ˘/˘˘·/· |
| And silent as the snow. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| She drew the world in wonder | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And swayed it with desire, | 8 | ··˘··˘/˘ |
| Ere Babylon was builded | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Or a stone laid in Tyre. | 6 | ······ |
| Yet here within my garden | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Her loveliness appears, | 6 | ·/˘˘˘/ |
| Undimmed by any sorrow | 8 | ··˘·/˘/˘ |
| Of all the tragic years. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| How kind that earth should treasure | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| So beautiful a thing-- | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| All mystical enchantment, | 7 | ·/˘˘˘/˘ |
| To stir our hearts in spring! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
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.