Marina Sings
This is the song Marina sangTo forlorn Pericles:Silver the young voice rang.The gray beard blew about his knees,And the hair of his bowed head, like a veil,Fell over his cheeks and blent with it:He knew not anything.Above him the Tyrian foldOf the curtain billowed, fringed with gold,As might beseem a king.Sunset was rose on every sailThat did along the far sea flit,And rose on the cedarn deckOf the ship that at anchor swayed;And the harbour was golden-lit.He lifted not his neckAt the coming of the maid.She swept him with her eyes,As though some tender wingJust touched a bleaching wreckIn sheeted sand that lies;Then she began to sing.
Words in this poem
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
- blent p. p.
- Blinded. Also (Chaucer), 3d sing. pres. Blindeth.
- tyrian a.
- Of or pertaining to Tyre or its people.
- beseem v. i.
- To seem; to appear; to be fitting.
- flit a.
- Nimble; quick; swift. See Fleet.
- cedarn a.
- Of or pertaining to the cedar or its wood.
- swayed a.
- Bent down, and hollow in the back; sway-backed; -- said of a horse.
- harbour n.
- A station for rest and entertainment; a place of security and comfort; a refuge; a shelter. [OE herbor, herberwe, herberge, Icel. herbergi (cf. OHG. heriberga), orig., a shelter for soldiers; herr army + bjarga to save, help, defend; akin to AS. here ar]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Marina Sings is in the public domain. This text is taken from A chant of love for England, and other poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #71425; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Helen Gray Cone, Marina Sings, in A Chant of Love for England, and Other Poems (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #71425, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cone-chant-for-england/marina-sings.html, id L22075.
Form and metre
Marina Sings is 22 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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-BCDEEDBCFGCFGHDFHD sangA · pericles · rangA · knees · veilB · itC · anythingD · foldE · goldE · kingD · sailB · flitC · deckF · swayedG · litC · neckF · maidG · eyesH · wingD · wreckF · liesH · singD
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| This is the song Marina sang | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| To forlorn Pericles: | 5 | ·˘/·· |
| Silver the young voice rang. | 6 | /˘···· |
| The gray beard blew about his knees, | 8 | ········ |
| And the hair of his bowed head, like a veil, | 10 | ·········· |
| Fell over his cheeks and blent with it: | 9 | ········· |
| He knew not anything. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Above him the Tyrian fold | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| Of the curtain billowed, fringed with gold, | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| As might beseem a king. | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Sunset was rose on every sail | 9 | /····/˘˘· |
| That did along the far sea flit, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| And rose on the cedarn deck | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Of the ship that at anchor swayed; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And the harbour was golden-lit. | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| He lifted not his neck | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| At the coming of the maid. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| She swept him with her eyes, | 6 | ······ |
| As though some tender wing | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Just touched a bleaching wreck | 6 | ···/˘· |
| In sheeted sand that lies; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Then she began to sing. | 6 | ··˘/·· |
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.