Maiden Speech of the Aeolian Harp
Soft and softlier hold me, friends!Thanks if your genial careUnbind and give me to the air.Keep your lips or finger-tipsFor flute or spinet's dancing chips;I await a tenderer touch,I ask more or not so much:Give me to the atmosphere,--Where is the wind, my brother,--where?Lift the sash, lay me within,Lend me your ears, and I begin.For gentle harp to gentle heartsThe secret of the world imparts;And not to-day and not to-morrowCan drain its wealth of hope and sorrow;But day by day, to loving earUnlocks new sense and loftier cheer.I've come to live with you, sweet friends,This home my minstrel-journeyings ends.Many and subtle are my lays,The latest better than the first,For I can mend the happiest daysAnd charm the anguish of the worst.
Words in this poem
- genial a.
- Contributing to, or concerned in, propagation or production; generative; procreative; productive. [L. genialis: cf. OF. genial. See Genius.]
- await v. t.
- To watch for; to look out for. [OF. awaitier, agaitier; (L. ad) + waitier, gaitier to watch, F. guetter. See Wait.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Maiden Speech of the Aeolian Harp is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Household Edition, Project Gutenberg ebook #12843; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Maiden Speech of the Aeolian Harp, in Poems (1847), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12843, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/emerson-poems/maiden-speech-of-the-aeolian-harp.html, id L07473.
Form and metre
Maiden Speech of the Aeolian Harp is 23 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 70% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 26% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 ABBCCDDEBFFGGHHEEAAIJIJ friendsA · careB · airB · tipsC · chipsC · touchD · muchD · atmosphereE · whereB · withinF · beginF · heartsG · impartsG · morrowH · sorrowH · earE · cheerE · friendsA · endsA · laysI · firstJ · daysI · worstJ
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Soft and softlier hold me, friends! | 7 | ······· |
| Thanks if your genial care | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Unbind and give me to the air. | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Keep your lips or finger-tips | 7 | ····/˘· |
| For flute or spinet's dancing chips; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I await a tenderer touch, | 8 | ·˘/····· |
| I ask more or not so much: | 7 | ······· |
| Give me to the atmosphere,-- | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Where is the wind, my brother,--where? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Lift the sash, lay me within, | 7 | ······· |
| Lend me your ears, and I begin. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| For gentle harp to gentle hearts | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The secret of the world imparts; | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| And not to-day and not to-morrow | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Can drain its wealth of hope and sorrow; | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| But day by day, to loving ear | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Unlocks new sense and loftier cheer. | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| I've come to live with you, sweet friends, | 8 | ········ |
| This home my minstrel-journeyings ends. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Many and subtle are my lays, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| The latest better than the first, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| For I can mend the happiest days | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And charm the anguish of the worst. | 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.