To Felicia Singing
SHE sat where sunset shadows fell,And sunset rays, a miracleOf palest blue and rose and amber,Touched her and folded in their spell.
Her golden head against the skyWas traced and outlined tenderly,And, lily-soft in the soft late sunshine,Her fair face blossomed to my eye.
She sang of love with tuneful breath,Of sorrow, sweet as aught love saith;Of noble pain, immortal longing,And hope which stronger is than death.
And every word and every toneSeemed born of something all my own.’Twas I who sang, ’twas I who suffered;Mine was the joyance, mine the moan.
Each lovely, vibrant, rapturous strainFulfilled my passion and my pain.I was the instrument she played on;I was her prelude and refrain.
And as dim echoes float and playThrough forests at the close of day,Farther and farther, breathed mysteriousFrom glades and copses far away,
So echoed through my heart her song,Deeper and deeper borne along,Waking to life half-unsuspectedGrievings and hopes and yearnings strong.
Ah! life and heart may weary beAnd youth may fail, and love may flee;But when I hear her, see her singing,The world grows beautiful to me.
Words in this poem
- tenderly adv.
- In a tender manner; with tenderness; mildly; gently; softly; in a manner not to injure or give pain; with pity or affection; kindly.
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- tuneful a.
- Harmonious; melodious; musical; as, tuneful notes.
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- saith
- 3d pers. sing. pres. of Say.
- joyance n.
- Enjoyment; gayety; festivity; joyfulness. [OF. joiance.]
- vibrant a.
- Vibrating; tremulous; resonant; as, vibrant drums. [L. vibrans, p. pr.: cf. F. vibrant. See Vibrate.]
- yearnings n.
- The maws, or stomachs, of young calves, used a rennet for curdling milk. [Cf. AS. geirnan, geyrnan, to rum. See 4th Earn.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Felicia Singing is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Few More Verses, Project Gutenberg ebook #49518; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Susan Coolidge, To Felicia Singing, in A Few More Verses (1889), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #49518, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/coolidge-few-more-verses/to-felicia-singing.html, id L23460.
Form and metre
To Felicia Singing is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 AA-A fellA · miracleA · amber · spellA
- 2 A--A skyA · tenderly · sunshine · eyeA
- 3 AA-A breathA · saithA · longing · deathA
- 4 AA-A toneA · ownA · suffered · moanA
- 5 AA-A strainA · painA · on · refrainA
- 6 AA-A playA · dayA · mysterious · awayA
- 7 AA-A songA · alongA · unsuspected · strongA
- 8 AA-A beA · fleeA · singing · meA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| SHE sat where sunset shadows fell, | 8 | ···/·/·· |
| And sunset rays, a miracle | 8 | ·/···/˘˘ |
| Of palest blue and rose and amber, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Touched her and folded in their spell. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Her golden head against the sky | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Was traced and outlined tenderly, | 8 | ···/·/˘˘ |
| And, lily-soft in the soft late sunshine, | 10 | ·/˘·····/· |
| Her fair face blossomed to my eye. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| She sang of love with tuneful breath, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of sorrow, sweet as aught love saith; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Of noble pain, immortal longing, | 9 | ·/˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| And hope which stronger is than death. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And every word and every tone | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Seemed born of something all my own. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| ’Twas I who sang, ’twas I who suffered; | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Mine was the joyance, mine the moan. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Each lovely, vibrant, rapturous strain | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Fulfilled my passion and my pain. | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| I was the instrument she played on; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I was her prelude and refrain. | 8 | ···/··˘/ |
| And as dim echoes float and play | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Through forests at the close of day, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Farther and farther, breathed mysterious | 9 | /˘·/˘·˘/˘ |
| From glades and copses far away, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| So echoed through my heart her song, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Deeper and deeper borne along, | 8 | /˘·/˘·˘/ |
| Waking to life half-unsuspected | 9 | /˘····˘/˘ |
| Grievings and hopes and yearnings strong. | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Ah! life and heart may weary be | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And youth may fail, and love may flee; | 8 | ········ |
| But when I hear her, see her singing, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| The world grows beautiful to me. | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
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.