To Eva
O fair and stately maid, whose eyesWere kindled in the upper skiesAt the same torch that lighted mine;For so I must interpret stillThy sweet dominion o'er my will,A sympathy divine.
Ah! let me blameless gaze uponFeatures that seem at heart my own;Nor fear those watchful sentinels,Who charm the more their glance forbids,Chaste-glowing, underneath their lids,With fire that draws while it repels.
About this text
To Eva 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, To Eva, in Poems (1847), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12843, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/emerson-poems/to-eva.html, id L07414.
Form and metre
To Eva is 12 lines in 2 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 AABCCB eyesA · skiesA · mineB · stillC · willC · divineB
- 2 --ABBA upon · own · sentinelsA · forbidsB · lidsB · repelsA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O fair and stately maid, whose eyes | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Were kindled in the upper skies | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| At the same torch that lighted mine; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For so I must interpret still | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Thy sweet dominion o'er my will, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| A sympathy divine. | 6 | ·/˘˘˘/ |
| Ah! let me blameless gaze upon | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Features that seem at heart my own; | 8 | /˘······ |
| Nor fear those watchful sentinels, | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Who charm the more their glance forbids, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Chaste-glowing, underneath their lids, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| With fire that draws while it repels. | 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.