Sunrise
Would you know what joy is hidIn our green Musketaquid,And for travelled eyes what charmsDraw us to these meadow farms,Come and I will show you allMakes each day a festival.Stand upon this pasture hill,Face the eastern star untilThe slow eye of heaven shall showThe world above, the world below.
Behold the miracle!Thou saw'st but now the twilight sadAnd stood beneath the firmament,A watchman in a dark gray tent,Waiting till God create the earth,--Behold the new majestic birth!The mottled clouds, like scraps of wool,Steeped in the light are beautiful.What majestic stillness broodsOver these colored solitudes.Sleeps the vast East in pleasèd peace,Up the far mountain walls the streams increaseInundating the heavenWith spouting streams and waves of lightWhich round the floating isles unite:--See the world belowBaptized with the pure element,A clear and glorious firmamentTouched with life by every beam.I share the good with every flower,I drink the nectar of the hour:--This is not the ancient earthWhereof old chronicles relateThe tragic tales of crime and fate;But rather, like its beads of dewAnd dew-bent violets, fresh and new,An exhalation of the time.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- firmament n.
- Fixed foundation; established basis. [L. firmamentum, fr. firmare to make firm: cf. F. firmament. See Firm, v. & a.]
- watchman n.
- One set to watch; a person who keeps guard; a guard; a sentinel.
- stillness n.
- The quality or state of being still; quietness; silence; calmness; inactivity.
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- whereof adv.
- Of which; of whom; formerly, also, with which; -- used relatively.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sunrise 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, Sunrise, in Poems (1847), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12843, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/emerson-poems/sunrise.html, id L07549.
Form and metre
Sunrise is 37 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 65% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.7 syllables. 9 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 40% 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 --AABBCCDD hid · musketaquid · charmsA · farmsA · allB · festivalB · hillC · untilC · showD · belowD
- 2 --AABBCCDDEE-FF-AA-GGBHHII- miracle · sad · firmamentA · tentA · earthB · birthB · woolC · beautifulC · broodsD · solitudesD · peaceE · increaseE · heaven · lightF · uniteF · below · elementA · firmamentA · beam · flowerG · hourG · earthB · relateH · fateH · dewI · newI · time
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Would you know what joy is hid | 7 | ······· |
| In our green Musketaquid, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And for travelled eyes what charms | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| Draw us to these meadow farms, | 7 | ····/·· |
| Come and I will show you all | 7 | ······· |
| Makes each day a festival. | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Stand upon this pasture hill, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Face the eastern star until | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| The slow eye of heaven shall show | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| The world above, the world below. | 8 | ········ |
| Behold the miracle! | 6 | ˘/·/˘˘ |
| Thou saw'st but now the twilight sad | 8 | ·····/·· |
| And stood beneath the firmament, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| A watchman in a dark gray tent, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Waiting till God create the earth,-- | 8 | /˘··˘/·· |
| Behold the new majestic birth! | 8 | ˘/··˘/˘· |
| The mottled clouds, like scraps of wool, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Steeped in the light are beautiful. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| What majestic stillness broods | 7 | ·˘/˘/˘· |
| Over these colored solitudes. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Sleeps the vast East in pleasèd peace, | 7 | ······· |
| Up the far mountain walls the streams increase | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Inundating the heaven | 7 | ˘/·˘·/˘ |
| With spouting streams and waves of light | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Which round the floating isles unite:-- | 8 | ···/˘·/· |
| See the world below | 5 | ····· |
| Baptized with the pure element, | 8 | ˘/···/˘˘ |
| A clear and glorious firmament | 9 | ···/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Touched with life by every beam. | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| I share the good with every flower, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| I drink the nectar of the hour:-- | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| This is not the ancient earth | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Whereof old chronicles relate | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| The tragic tales of crime and fate; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But rather, like its beads of dew | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And dew-bent violets, fresh and new, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| An exhalation of the time. | 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.