Uriel
It fell in the ancient periodsWhich the brooding soul surveys,Or ever the wild Time coined itselfInto calendar months and days.
This was the lapse of Uriel,Which in Paradise befell.Once, among the Pleiads walking,Seyd overheard the young gods talking;And the treason, too long pent,To his ears was evident.The young deities discussedLaws of form, and metre just,Orb, quintessence, and sunbeams,What subsisteth, and what seems.One, with low tones that decide,And doubt and reverend use defied,With a look that solved the sphere,And stirred the devils everywhere,Gave his sentiment divineAgainst the being of a line.'Line in nature is not found;Unit and universe are round;In vain produced, all rays return;Evil will bless, and ice will burn.'As Uriel spoke with piercing eye,A shudder ran around the sky;The stern old war-gods shook their heads,The seraphs frowned from myrtle-beds;Seemed to the holy festivalThe rash word boded ill to all;The balance-beam of Fate was bent;The bounds of good and ill were rent;Strong Hades could not keep his own,But all slid to confusion.
A sad self-knowledge, withering, fellOn the beauty of Uriel;In heaven once eminent, the godWithdrew, that hour, into his cloud;Whether doomed to long gyrationIn the sea of generation,Or by knowledge grown too brightTo hit the nerve of feebler sight.Straightway, a forgetting windStole over the celestial kind,And their lips the secret kept,If in ashes the fire-seed slept.But now and then, truth-speaking thingsShamed the angels' veiling wings;And, shrilling from the solar course,Or from fruit of chemic force,Procession of a soul in matter,Or the speeding change of water,Or out of the good of evil born,Came Uriel's voice of cherub scorn,And a blush tinged the upper sky,And the gods shook, they knew not why.
Words in this poem
- pent p. p.
- Penned or shut up; confined; -- often with up. [From Pen, v. t.]
- quintessence n.
- The fifth or last and highest essence or power in a natural body. [F., fr. L. quinta essentia fifth essence. See Quint, and Essence.]
- reverend a.
- Worthy of reverence; entitled to respect mingled with fear and affection; venerable. [F. révérend, L. reverendus, fr. revereri. See Revere.]
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- withering a.
- Tending to wither; causing to shrink or fade.
- gyration n.
- The act of turning or whirling, as around a fixed center; a circular or spiral motion; motion about an axis; rotation; revolution.
- straightway adv.
- Immediately; without loss of time; without delay.
- stole n.
- A long, loose garment reaching to the feet. [AS. stole, L. stola, Gr. stall. See Stall.]
- veiling n.
- A veil; a thin covering; also, material for making veils.
- cherub n.
- A mysterious composite being, the winged footstool and chariot of the Almighty, described in Ezekiel i. and x. [Heb. kerub.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Uriel 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, Uriel, in Poems (1847), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12843, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/emerson-poems/uriel.html, id L07384.
Form and metre
Uriel is 56 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 79% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 11 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 20% 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 -A-A periods · surveysA · itself · daysA
- 2 --AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLLBBMM uriel · befell · walkingA · talkingA · pentB · evidentB · discussedC · justC · sunbeamsD · seemsD · decideE · defiedE · sphereF · everywhereF · divineG · lineG · foundH · roundH · returnI · burnI · eyeJ · skyJ · headsK · bedsK · festivalL · allL · bentB · rentB · ownM · confusionM
- 3 ----AABBCCDDEEFF--GGHH fell · uriel · god · cloud · gyrationA · generationA · brightB · sightB · windC · kindC · keptD · sleptD · thingsE · wingsE · courseF · forceF · matter · water · bornG · scornG · skyH · whyH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| It fell in the ancient periods | 9 | ····/˘/˘˘ |
| Which the brooding soul surveys, | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Or ever the wild Time coined itself | 8 | ·/····˘/ |
| Into calendar months and days. | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| This was the lapse of Uriel, | 7 | ······· |
| Which in Paradise befell. | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Once, among the Pleiads walking, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Seyd overheard the young gods talking; | 9 | ·/˘/···/˘ |
| And the treason, too long pent, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| To his ears was evident. | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| The young deities discussed | 8 | ··/˘˘˘/˘ |
| Laws of form, and metre just, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Orb, quintessence, and sunbeams, | 7 | ·˘/˘·/· |
| What subsisteth, and what seems. | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| One, with low tones that decide, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| And doubt and reverend use defied, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| With a look that solved the sphere, | 8 | ·····˘·· |
| And stirred the devils everywhere, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Gave his sentiment divine | 7 | ··/˘˘˘/ |
| Against the being of a line. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| 'Line in nature is not found; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Unit and universe are round; | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| In vain produced, all rays return; | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| Evil will bless, and ice will burn.' | 8 | /˘······ |
| As Uriel spoke with piercing eye, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A shudder ran around the sky; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The stern old war-gods shook their heads, | 8 | ········ |
| The seraphs frowned from myrtle-beds; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Seemed to the holy festival | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| The rash word boded ill to all; | 8 | ········ |
| The balance-beam of Fate was bent; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The bounds of good and ill were rent; | 8 | ········ |
| Strong Hades could not keep his own, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But all slid to confusion. | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| A sad self-knowledge, withering, fell | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| On the beauty of Uriel; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| In heaven once eminent, the god | 8 | ·/·/˘˘·· |
| Withdrew, that hour, into his cloud; | 8 | ˘/·/···· |
| Whether doomed to long gyration | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| In the sea of generation, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Or by knowledge grown too bright | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| To hit the nerve of feebler sight. | 8 | ········ |
| Straightway, a forgetting wind | 7 | /˘·˘/˘· |
| Stole over the celestial kind, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| And their lips the secret kept, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| If in ashes the fire-seed slept. | 8 | ··/˘·/·· |
| But now and then, truth-speaking things | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Shamed the angels' veiling wings; | 8 | ·˘·/˘/˘· |
| And, shrilling from the solar course, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Or from fruit of chemic force, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Procession of a soul in matter, | 9 | ˘/˘····/˘ |
| Or the speeding change of water, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Or out of the good of evil born, | 8 | ······/· |
| Came Uriel's voice of cherub scorn, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And a blush tinged the upper sky, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And the gods shook, they knew not why. | 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.