Rubies
They brought me rubies from the mine,And held them to the sun;I said, they are drops of frozen wineFrom Eden's vats that run.
I looked again,--I thought them heartsOf friends to friends unknown;Tides that should warm each neighboring lifeAre locked in sparkling stone.
But fire to thaw that ruddy snow,To break enchanted ice,And give love's scarlet tides to flow,--When shall that sun arise?
Words in this poem
- thaw v. i.
- To melt, dissolve, or become fluid; to soften; -- said of that which is frozen; as, the ice thaws.
- enchanted a.
- Under the power of enchantment; possessed or exercised by enchanters; as, an enchanted castle.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Rubies 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, Rubies, in Poems (1847), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12843, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/emerson-poems/rubies.html, id L07452.
Form and metre
Rubies is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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 ABAB mineA · sunB · wineA · runB
- 2 -A-A hearts · unknownA · life · stoneA
- 3 A-A- snowA · ice · flowA · arise
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| They brought me rubies from the mine, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And held them to the sun; | 6 | ······ |
| I said, they are drops of frozen wine | 9 | ······/˘· |
| From Eden's vats that run. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I looked again,--I thought them hearts | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Of friends to friends unknown; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Tides that should warm each neighboring life | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Are locked in sparkling stone. | 7 | ··˘·/˘· |
| But fire to thaw that ruddy snow, | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| To break enchanted ice, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| And give love's scarlet tides to flow,-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| When shall that sun arise? | 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.