Light and Wind
Where, through the myriad leaves of forest trees,The daylight falls, beryl and chrysoprase,The glamour and the glimmer of its raysSeem visible music, tangible melodies:Light that is music; music that one sees--Wagnerian music--where forever swaysThe spirit of romance, and gods and faysTake form, clad on with dreams and mysteries.And now the wind's transmuting necromanceTouches the light and makes it fall and rise,Vocal, a harp of multitudinous wavesThat speaks as ocean speaks--an utteranceOf far-off whispers, mermaid-murmuring sighs--Pelagian, vast, deep down in coral caves.
Words in this poem
- myriad n.
- The number of ten thousand; ten thousand persons or things. [Gr. myriade.]
- daylight n.
- The light of day as opposed to the darkness of night; the light of the sun, as opposed to that of the moon or to artificial light.
- chrysoprase n.
- An apple-green variety of chalcedony, colored by nickel. It has a dull flinty luster, and is sometimes used in jewelry.
- glamour n.
- A charm affecting the eye, making objects appear different from what they really are. [Scot. glamour, glamer; cf. Icel. glámeggdr one who is troubled with the glaucoma; or Icel. glam-s weakness of sight, glamour; glamr name of the moon, also of a ]
- wagnerian a.
- Of, pertaining to, or resembling the style of, Richard Wagner, the German musical composer.
- clad v.
- To clothe. Holland.
- multitudinous a.
- Consisting of a multitude; manifold in number or condition; as, multitudinous waves.
- pelagian a.
- Of or pertaining to the sea; marine; pelagic; as, pelagian shells. [L. pelagius, Gr. pélagien.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Light and Wind 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, Light and Wind, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/light-and-wind.html, id L10966.
Form and metre
Light and Wind is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDECDE, the pattern of the Italian sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 43% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other Italian sonnets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABBAABBACDECDE treesA · chrysopraseB · raysB · melodiesA · seesA · swaysB · faysB · mysteriesA · necromanceC · riseD · wavesE · utteranceC · sighsD · cavesE
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Where, through the myriad leaves of forest trees, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The daylight falls, beryl and chrysoprase, | 10 | ·/··/˘·/˘˘ |
| The glamour and the glimmer of its rays | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Seem visible music, tangible melodies: | 9 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| Light that is music; music that one sees-- | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Wagnerian music--where forever sways | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| The spirit of romance, and gods and fays | 9 | ·/·/˘···· |
| Take form, clad on with dreams and mysteries. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And now the wind's transmuting necromance | 10 | ·········· |
| Touches the light and makes it fall and rise, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Vocal, a harp of multitudinous waves | 11 | /˘········· |
| That speaks as ocean speaks--an utterance | 9 | ···/··/˘˘ |
| Of far-off whispers, mermaid-murmuring sighs-- | 10 | ···/˘/·/˘· |
| Pelagian, vast, deep down in coral caves. | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
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.