Sung by Glycine in Zapolya, Act II. Scene 2
A Sunny shaft did I behold,From sky to earth it slanted:And poised therein a bird so bold--Sweet bird, thou wert enchanted!
He sunk, he rose, he twinkled, he trolledWithin that shaft of sunny mist;His eyes of fire, his beak of gold,All else of amethyst!
And thus he sang: "Adieu! adieu!Love's dreams prove seldom true.The blossoms they make no delay:The sparkling dew-drops will not stay.Sweet month of May,We must away;Far, far away!To-day! to-day!"
Words in this poem
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- enchanted a.
- Under the power of enchantment; possessed or exercised by enchanters; as, an enchanted castle.
- 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.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sung by Glycine in Zapolya, Act II. Scene 2 is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Coleridge, Project Gutenberg ebook #8208; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sung by Glycine in Zapolya, Act II. Scene 2, in Poems of Coleridge (1796–1817), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8208, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/coleridge-poems/sung-by-glycine-in-zapolya-act-ii-scene-2.html, id L00330.
Form and metre
Sung by Glycine in Zapolya, Act II. Scene 2 is 16 lines in 3 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.7 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 6% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABAB beholdA · slantedB · boldA · enchantedB
- 2 ABAB trolledA · mistB · goldA · amethystB
- 3 AABBBBBB adieuA · trueA · delayB · stayB · mayB · awayB · awayB · dayB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A Sunny shaft did I behold, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| From sky to earth it slanted: | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And poised therein a bird so bold-- | 8 | ········ |
| Sweet bird, thou wert enchanted! | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| He sunk, he rose, he twinkled, he trolled | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Within that shaft of sunny mist; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| His eyes of fire, his beak of gold, | 8 | ···/···· |
| All else of amethyst! | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| And thus he sang: "Adieu! adieu! | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| Love's dreams prove seldom true. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The blossoms they make no delay: | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The sparkling dew-drops will not stay. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Sweet month of May, | 4 | ···· |
| We must away; | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Far, far away! | 4 | ··˘/ |
| To-day! to-day!" | 4 | ···· |
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.