Six Green Singers
The frost of the moon fell over my floorAnd six green singers stood at my door.
“What do ye here that music make?”“Let us come in for Christ’s sweet Sake.”
“Long have ye journeyed in coming here?”“Our Pilgrimage was the length of the year.”
“Where do ye make for?” I asked of them.“Our Shrine is a Stable in Bethlehem.”
“What will ye do as ye go along?”“Sing to the world an evergreen song.”
“What will ye sing for the listening earth?”“One will sing of a brave-souled Mirth,
“One of the Holiest Mystery,The Glory of glories shall one song be,
“One of the Memory of things,One of the Child’s imaginings,
“One of our songs is the fadeless Faith,And all are the Life more mighty than death.”
“Ere ye be gone that music make,Give me an alms for Christ’s sweet Sake.”
“Six green branches we leave with you;See they be scattered your house-place through.
“The staunch blithe Holly your board shall grace,Mistletoe bless your chimney-place,
“Laurel to crown your lighted hall,Over your bed let the Yew-bough fall,
“Close by the cradle the Christmas Fir,For elfin dreams in its branches stir,
“Last and loveliest, high and low,From ceil to floor let the Ivy go.”
From each glad guest I received my giftAnd then the latch of my door did lift--
“Green singers, God prosper the song ye makeAs ye sing to the world for Christ’s sweet Sake.”
Words in this poem
- pilgrimage n.
- The journey of a pilgrim; a long journey; especially, a journey to a shrine or other sacred place. Fig., the journey of human life. [OE. pilgrimage, pelgrinage; cf. F. pèlerinage.]
- bethlehem n.
- A hospital for lunatics; -- corrupted into bedlam. [Heb. b house of food; b house + lekhem food, lakham to eat. Formerly the name of a hospital for the insane, in London, which had been the priory of St. Mary of ]
- 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,]
- fadeless a.
- Not liable to fade; unfading.
- blithe a.
- Gay; merry; sprightly; joyous; glad; cheerful; as, a blithe spirit. [AS. bli blithe, kind; akin to Goth. blei kind, Icel. bli mild, gentle, Dan. & Sw. blid gentle, D. blijd blithe, OHG. blidi kind, blithe.]
- elfin a.
- Relating to elves.
- ceil v. t.
- To overlay or cover the inner side of the roof of; to furnish with a ceiling; as, to ceil a room.
- latch v. t.
- To smear; to anoint. [Cf. F. lécher to lick (of German origin). Cf. Lick.]
- prosper v. t.
- To favor; to render successful. [F. prospérer v. i., or L. prosperare, v. i., or L. prosperare, v. t., fr. prosper or prosperus. See Prosperous.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Six Green Singers is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sonnets and Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #56244; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Eleanor Farjeon, Six Green Singers, in Sonnets and Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56244, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/farjeon-sonnets-poems/six-green-singers.html, id L21959.
Form and metre
Six Green Singers is 34 lines in 17 stanzas of 2 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 88% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter.
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 AA floorA · doorA
- 2 AA makeA · sakeA
- 3 AA hereA · yearA
- 4 AA themA · bethlehemA
- 5 AA alongA · songA
- 6 AA earthA · mirthA
- 8 AA thingsA · imaginingsA
- 10 AA makeA · sakeA
- 11 AA youA · throughA
- 12 AA graceA · placeA
- 13 AA hallA · fallA
- 14 AA firA · stirA
- 15 AA lowA · goA
- 16 AA giftA · liftA
- 17 AA makeA · sakeA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The frost of the moon fell over my floor | 9 | ········· |
| And six green singers stood at my door. | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| “What do ye here that music make?” | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| “Let us come in for Christ’s sweet Sake.” | 8 | ········ |
| “Long have ye journeyed in coming here?” | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| “Our Pilgrimage was the length of the year.” | 9 | //˘······ |
| “Where do ye make for?” I asked of them. | 9 | ········· |
| “Our Shrine is a Stable in Bethlehem.” | 10 | /···/˘·/˘· |
| “What will ye do as ye go along?” | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| “Sing to the world an evergreen song.” | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| “What will ye sing for the listening earth?” | 9 | ······/˘· |
| “One will sing of a brave-souled Mirth, | 8 | ········ |
| “One of the Holiest Mystery, | 9 | ···/˘˘/˘˘ |
| The Glory of glories shall one song be, | 10 | ·/˘·/˘···· |
| “One of the Memory of things, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| One of the Child’s imaginings, | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| “One of our songs is the fadeless Faith, | 9 | ··/···/˘· |
| And all are the Life more mighty than death.” | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| “Ere ye be gone that music make, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Give me an alms for Christ’s sweet Sake.” | 8 | ········ |
| “Six green branches we leave with you; | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| See they be scattered your house-place through. | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| “The staunch blithe Holly your board shall grace, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Mistletoe bless your chimney-place, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| “Laurel to crown your lighted hall, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Over your bed let the Yew-bough fall, | 8 | ········ |
| “Close by the cradle the Christmas Fir, | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| For elfin dreams in its branches stir, | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| “Last and loveliest, high and low, | 8 | ········ |
| From ceil to floor let the Ivy go.” | 9 | ······/˘· |
| From each glad guest I received my gift | 9 | ·····˘/·· |
| And then the latch of my door did lift-- | 9 | ········· |
| “Green singers, God prosper the song ye make | 10 | ·/˘·/˘···· |
| As ye sing to the world for Christ’s sweet Sake.” | 10 | ·········· |
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.