Music Unheard
Sweet sounds, begone--Whose music on my earStirs foolish discontentOf lingering here;When, if I crossedThe crystal verge of death,Him I should seeWho these sounds murmureth.
Sweet sounds, begone--Ask not my heart to breakIts bond of bravery forSweet quiet's sake;Lure not my feetTo leave the path they mustTread on, unfaltering,Till I sleep in dust.
Sweet sounds, begone:Though silence brings apaceDeadly disquietOf this homeless place;And all I loveIn beauty cries to me,'We but vain shadowsAnd reflections be.'
Words in this poem
- apace adv.
- With a quick pace; quick; fast; speedily. [Pref. a- + pace. OE. a pas at a walk, in which a is the article. See Pace.]
- homeless a.
- Destitute of a home. [AS.hamleas.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Music Unheard is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Listeners and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #22569; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Walter de la Mare, Music Unheard, in The Listeners and Other Poems (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22569, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/de-la-mare-listeners/music-unheard.html, id L17089.
Form and metre
Music Unheard is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.1 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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-B-B begone · earA · discontent · hereA · crossed · deathB · see · murmurethB
- 2 -A-A-B-B begone · breakA · for · sakeA · feet · mustB · unfaltering · dustB
- 3 -A-A-B-B begone · apaceA · disquiet · placeA · love · meB · shadows · beB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sweet sounds, begone-- | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Whose music on my ear | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Stirs foolish discontent | 6 | ·/˘˘˘/ |
| Of lingering here; | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| When, if I crossed | 4 | ···· |
| The crystal verge of death, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Him I should see | 4 | ···· |
| Who these sounds murmureth. | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Sweet sounds, begone-- | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Ask not my heart to break | 6 | ······ |
| Its bond of bravery for | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Sweet quiet's sake; | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Lure not my feet | 4 | ···· |
| To leave the path they must | 6 | ······ |
| Tread on, unfaltering, | 6 | ······ |
| Till I sleep in dust. | 5 | ····· |
| Sweet sounds, begone: | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Though silence brings apace | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Deadly disquiet | 5 | /˘˘/˘ |
| Of this homeless place; | 5 | ··/˘· |
| And all I love | 4 | ···· |
| In beauty cries to me, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| 'We but vain shadows | 5 | ···/· |
| And reflections be.' | 5 | ·˘/˘· |
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.