The Rising of the Storm
The lake's dark breastIs all unrest,It heaves with a sob and a sigh.Like a tremulous bird,From its slumber stirred,The moon is a-tilt in the sky.
From the silent deepThe waters sweep,But faint on the cold white stones,And the wavelets flyWith a plaintive cryO'er the old earth's bare, bleak bones.
And the spray upspringsOn its ghost-white wings,And tosses a kiss at the stars;While a water-sprite,In sea-pearls dight,Hums a sea-hymn's solemn bars.
Far out in the night,On the wavering sightI see a dark hull loom;And its light on high,Like a Cyclops' eye,Shines out through the mist and gloom.
Now the winds well upFrom the earth's deep cup,And fall on the sea and shore,And against the pierThe waters rearAnd break with a sullen roar.
Up comes the gale,And the mist-wrought veilGives way to the lightning's glare,And the cloud-drifts fall,A sombre pall,O'er water, earth, and air.
The storm-king flies,His whip he plies,And bellows down the wind.The lightning rashWith blinding flashComes pricking on behind.
Rise, waters, rise,And taunt the skiesWith your swift-flitting form.Sweep, wild winds, sweep,And tear the deepTo atoms in the storm.
And the waters leapt,And the wild winds swept,And blew out the moon in the sky,And I laughed with glee,It was joy to meAs the storm went raging by!
Words in this poem
- unrest n.
- Want of rest or repose; unquietness; sleeplessness; uneasiness; disquietude.
- heaves n.
- A disease of horses, characterized by difficult breathing, with heaving of the flank, wheezing, flatulency, and a peculiar cough; broken wind.
- ghost n.
- The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
- sprite n.
- A spirit; a soul; a shade; also, an apparition. See Spright. [OE. sprit, F. esprit, fr. L. spiritus. See Spirit, and cf. Sprightly.]
- dight v. t.
- To prepare; to put in order; hence, to dress, or put on; to array; to adorn. [OF. dihten, AS. dihtan to dictate, command, dispose, arrange, fr. L. dictare to say often, dictate, order; cf. G. dichten to write poetry, fr. L. dictare. See D]
- sullen a.
- Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
- glare v. i.
- To shine with a bright, dazzling light. [OE. glaren, gloren; cf. AS. glær amber, LG. glaren to glow or burn like coals, D. gloren to glimmer; prob. akin to E. glass.]
- sombre n.
- Gloom; obscurity; duskiness; somberness.
- flitting n.
- A flying with lightness and celerity; a fluttering.
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Rising of the Storm is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Project Gutenberg ebook #18338; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Paul Laurence Dunbar, The Rising of the Storm, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/the-rising-of-the-storm.html, id L00488.
Form and metre
The Rising of the Storm is 54 lines in 9 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABCCB. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.4 syllables. 28% 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 AABCCB breastA · unrestA · sighB · birdC · stirredC · skyB
- 2 AABCCB deepA · sweepA · stonesB · flyC · cryC · bonesB
- 3 AABCCB upspringsA · wingsA · starsB · spriteC · dightC · barsB
- 4 AABCCB nightA · sightA · loomB · highC · eyeC · gloomB
- 5 AABCCB upA · cupA · shoreB · pierC · rearC · roarB
- 6 AABCCB galeA · veilA · glareB · fallC · pallC · airB
- 7 AABCCB fliesA · pliesA · windB · rashC · flashC · behindB
- 8 AABCCB riseA · skiesA · formB · sweepC · deepC · stormB
- 9 AABCCB leaptA · sweptA · skyB · gleeC · meC · byB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The lake's dark breast | 4 | ···· |
| Is all unrest, | 4 | ··˘/ |
| It heaves with a sob and a sigh. | 8 | ········ |
| Like a tremulous bird, | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| From its slumber stirred, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| The moon is a-tilt in the sky. | 8 | ········ |
| From the silent deep | 5 | ··/˘· |
| The waters sweep, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| But faint on the cold white stones, | 7 | ······· |
| And the wavelets fly | 6 | ······ |
| With a plaintive cry | 5 | ··/˘· |
| O'er the old earth's bare, bleak bones. | 7 | ······· |
| And the spray upsprings | 5 | ····· |
| On its ghost-white wings, | 5 | ····· |
| And tosses a kiss at the stars; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| While a water-sprite, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| In sea-pearls dight, | 4 | ···· |
| Hums a sea-hymn's solemn bars. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Far out in the night, | 5 | ····· |
| On the wavering sight | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| I see a dark hull loom; | 6 | ······ |
| And its light on high, | 5 | ····· |
| Like a Cyclops' eye, | 5 | ··/·· |
| Shines out through the mist and gloom. | 7 | ······· |
| Now the winds well up | 5 | ····· |
| From the earth's deep cup, | 5 | ····· |
| And fall on the sea and shore, | 7 | ······· |
| And against the pier | 5 | ····· |
| The waters rear | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And break with a sullen roar. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Up comes the gale, | 4 | ···· |
| And the mist-wrought veil | 5 | ····· |
| Gives way to the lightning's glare, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And the cloud-drifts fall, | 5 | ····· |
| A sombre pall, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| O'er water, earth, and air. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The storm-king flies, | 4 | ···· |
| His whip he plies, | 4 | ···· |
| And bellows down the wind. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The lightning rash | 4 | ·/˘· |
| With blinding flash | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Comes pricking on behind. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Rise, waters, rise, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And taunt the skies | 4 | ···· |
| With your swift-flitting form. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Sweep, wild winds, sweep, | 4 | ···· |
| And tear the deep | 4 | ···· |
| To atoms in the storm. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And the waters leapt, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| And the wild winds swept, | 5 | ····· |
| And blew out the moon in the sky, | 8 | ········ |
| And I laughed with glee, | 5 | ····· |
| It was joy to me | 5 | ····· |
| As the storm went raging by! | 7 | ····/˘· |
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.