Beautiful-Bosomed, o Night
Beautiful-bosomed, O Night, in thy noonMove with majesty onward! soaring, as lightlyAs a singer may soar the notes of an exquisite tune,The stars and the moonThrough the clerestories high of the heaven, the firmament's halls:Under whose sapphirine walls,June, hesperian June,Robed in divinity wanders. Daily and nightlyThe turquoise touch of her robe, that the violets star,The silvery fall of her feet, that lilies are,Fill the land with languorous light and perfume.--Is it the melody mute of burgeoning leaf and of bloom?The music of Nature, that silently shapes in the gloomImmaterial hostsOf spirits that have the flowers and leaves in their keep,Whom I hear, whom I hear?With their sighs of silver and pearl?Invisible ghosts,--Each sigh a shadowy girl,--
Who whisper in leaves and glimmer in blossoms and hoverIn color and fragrance and loveliness, breathed from the deepWorld-soul of the mother,Nature; who over and over,--Both sweetheart and lover,--Goes singing her songs from one sweet month to the other.
Lo! 'tis her songs that appear, appear,In forest and field, on hill-land and lea,As visible harmony,Materialized melody,Crystallized beauty, that out of the atmosphereUtters itself, in wonder and mystery,Peopling with glimmering essence the hyaline far and the near....
Behold how it sprouts from the grass and blossoms from flower and tree!In waves of diaphanous moonlight and mist,In fugue upon fugue of gold and of amethyst,Around me, above me it spirals; now slower, now faster,Like symphonies born of the thought of a musical master.--O music of Earth! O God, who the music inspired!Let me breathe of the life of thy breath!And so be fulfilled and attiredIn resurrection, triumphant o'er time and o'er death!
Words in this poem
- sapphirine n.
- Resembling sapphire; made of sapphire; having the color, or any quality of sapphire.
- hesperian a.
- Western; being in the west; occidental. [L. hesperius, fr. hesperus the evening star, Gr. Vesper.]
- nightly a.
- Of or pertaining to the night, or to every night; happening or done by night, or every night; as, nightly shades; he kept nightly vigils.
- languorous a.
- Producing, or tending to produce, languor; characterized by languor. [From Languor: cf. F. langoureux.]
- hover n.
- A cover; a shelter; a protection. Carew. C. Kingsley. [Etymol. doubtful.]
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
- hyaline a.
- Glassy; resembling glass; consisting of glass; transparent, like crystal. [L. hyalinus, Gr. hyalin.]
- diaphanous a.
- Allowing light to pass through, as porcelain; translucent or transparent; pellucid; clear. [Gr. diaphane. See Phantom, and cf. Diaphane, Diaphanic.]
- amethyst
- A variety of crystallized quartz, of a purple or bluish violet color, of different shades. It is much used as a jeweler's stone. [F. ametiste, amatiste, F. améthyste, L. amethystus, fr. Gr. Mead.]
- attired p. p.
- Provided with antlers, as a stag.
- resurrection n.
- A rising again; the resumption of vigor. [F. résurrection, L. resurrectio, fr. resurgere, resurrectum, to rise again; pref. re- re- + surgere to rise. See Source.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Beautiful-Bosomed, o Night is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #7796; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Madison Julius Cawein, Beautiful-Bosomed, o Night, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/beautiful-bosomed-o-night.html, id L10836.
Form and metre
Beautiful-Bosomed, o Night is 41 lines in 4 stanzas. 79% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 12 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 24% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABAACCABDDEEEF--GFG noonA · lightlyB · tuneA · moonA · hallsC · wallsC · juneA · nightlyB · starD · areD · perfumeE · bloomE · gloomE · hostsF · keep · hear · pearlG · ghostsF · girlG
- 2 A-B-AB hoverA · deep · motherB · over · loverA · otherB
- 3 A---A-A appearA · lea · harmony · melody · atmosphereA · mystery · nearA
- 4 -AABB-C-C tree · mistA · amethystA · fasterB · masterB · inspired · breathC · attired · deathC
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Beautiful-bosomed, O Night, in thy noon | 9 | /˘/˘····· |
| Move with majesty onward! soaring, as lightly | 11 | ··/˘/˘/˘·/˘ |
| As a singer may soar the notes of an exquisite tune, | 13 | ··/˘······/˘· |
| The stars and the moon | 5 | ····· |
| Through the clerestories high of the heaven, the firmament's halls: | 14 | ········/····· |
| Under whose sapphirine walls, | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| June, hesperian June, | 6 | ·˘/˘˘· |
| Robed in divinity wanders. Daily and nightly | 12 | ··˘/˘/˘/˘·/˘ |
| The turquoise touch of her robe, that the violets star, | 12 | ·/˘······/˘· |
| The silvery fall of her feet, that lilies are, | 11 | ·/˘·····/˘· |
| Fill the land with languorous light and perfume.-- | 11 | ····/˘˘··˘/ |
| Is it the melody mute of burgeoning leaf and of bloom? | 13 | ···/˘··/˘···· |
| The music of Nature, that silently shapes in the gloom | 13 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘···· |
| Immaterial hosts | 6 | ·˘/˘˘· |
| Of spirits that have the flowers and leaves in their keep, | 12 | ·/˘···/····· |
| Whom I hear, whom I hear? | 6 | ······ |
| With their sighs of silver and pearl? | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Invisible ghosts,-- | 5 | ˘/˘˘· |
| Each sigh a shadowy girl,-- | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| Who whisper in leaves and glimmer in blossoms and hover | 14 | ·/˘···/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| In color and fragrance and loveliness, breathed from the deep | 14 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘˘···· |
| World-soul of the mother, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Nature; who over and over,-- | 8 | /˘······ |
| Both sweetheart and lover,-- | 6 | ·/··/˘ |
| Goes singing her songs from one sweet month to the other. | 13 | ·/˘········/˘ |
| Lo! 'tis her songs that appear, appear, | 9 | ·····˘/˘/ |
| In forest and field, on hill-land and lea, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| As visible harmony, | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Materialized melody, | 8 | ˘/˘˘·/˘˘ |
| Crystallized beauty, that out of the atmosphere | 12 | /˘·/˘····/˘· |
| Utters itself, in wonder and mystery, | 10 | /˘˘/·/˘·/˘ |
| Peopling with glimmering essence the hyaline far and the near.... | 15 | /˘·/˘/˘·/˘˘···· |
| Behold how it sprouts from the grass and blossoms from flower and tree! | 15 | ˘/·······/˘·/·· |
| In waves of diaphanous moonlight and mist, | 10 | ···˘/˘/··· |
| In fugue upon fugue of gold and of amethyst, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Around me, above me it spirals; now slower, now faster, | 14 | ·······/˘·/·/˘ |
| Like symphonies born of the thought of a musical master.-- | 13 | ·/˘······/˘/˘ |
| O music of Earth! O God, who the music inspired! | 13 | ·/˘······/˘˘/ |
| Let me breathe of the life of thy breath! | 9 | ········· |
| And so be fulfilled and attired | 8 | ···˘/·˘/ |
| In resurrection, triumphant o'er time and o'er death! | 13 | ··˘/˘˘/˘····· |
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.