The Singer
I had a holy hour last night.The room her presence made so pureWas shaded in uncertain light,But oh, the light it held was sure.
There while about her golden headThe shadows and the low light played,She eagerly and softly readThe shining songs her soul had made.
Flower and shell and sand and sea,And flight of gulls against the sun,And many a friend, and many a tree,And youth begun and age nigh-done,
Death and life, and life and death,Divinely in her vision smiled;She spoke them with the silver breathHalf of angel, half of child.
Upon her bed I lay at rest,But once when kneeling by her chairI leaned my head beside her breastAnd heard the wordless singing there.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- wordless a.
- Not using words; not speaking; silent; speechless.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Singer 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, The Singer, in Sonnets and Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56244, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/farjeon-sonnets-poems/the-singer.html, id L21975.
Form and metre
The Singer is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%).
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 ABAB nightA · pureB · lightA · sureB
- 2 ABAB headA · playedB · readA · madeB
- 3 ABAB seaA · sunB · treeA · doneB
- 4 ABAB deathA · smiledB · breathA · childB
- 5 ABAB restA · chairB · breastA · thereB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I had a holy hour last night. | 8 | ···/˘/·· |
| The room her presence made so pure | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Was shaded in uncertain light, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| But oh, the light it held was sure. | 8 | ········ |
| There while about her golden head | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The shadows and the low light played, | 8 | ·/······ |
| She eagerly and softly read | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| The shining songs her soul had made. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Flower and shell and sand and sea, | 8 | /˘······ |
| And flight of gulls against the sun, | 8 | ········ |
| And many a friend, and many a tree, | 8 | ·/···/·· |
| And youth begun and age nigh-done, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Death and life, and life and death, | 7 | ······· |
| Divinely in her vision smiled; | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| She spoke them with the silver breath | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Half of angel, half of child. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Upon her bed I lay at rest, | 8 | ········ |
| But once when kneeling by her chair | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I leaned my head beside her breast | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And heard the wordless singing there. | 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.