Laurel · Théophile Gautier · Enamels and Cameos and Other Poems

Symphony in White Major

Théophile Gautier (1811–1872), translated by Agnes Lee · 1903

common measure · ABAB · 72 lines · from Enamels and Cameos and Other Poems

In the Northern tales of eld,From the Rhine's escarpments highSwan-women radiant were beheld,Singing and floating by,

Or, leaving their plumage brightOn a bough that was bending low,Displaying skin more gleaming whiteThan the white of their down of snow.

At times one comes our way,--Of all she is pallidest,White as the moonbeam's shivering rayOn a glacier's icy crest.

Her boreal bloom doth winOur eyes to feasting rareOn rich delight of nacreous skin,And a wealth of whiteness fair.

Her rounded breasts, pale globesOf snow, wage insolent warWith her camellias and her robesOf whiteness nebular.

In such white wars supremeShe wins, and weft and flowerLeave their revenge's right, and seemYellowed with envy's hour.

On the white of her shoulder bare,Whose marble Paros lends,As through the Polar twilight fair,Invisible frost descends.

What beaming virgin snow,What pith a reed within,What Host, what taper, did bestowThe white of her matchless skin?

Was she made of a milky dropOn the blue of a winter heaven?The lily-blow on the stem's green top?The foam of the sea at even?

Of the marble still and cold,Wherein the great gods dwell?Of creamy opal gems that holdFaint fires of mystic spell?

Or the organ's ivory keys?Her winged fingers oftLike butterflies flit over these,With kisses pending soft.

Of the ermine's stainless fold,Whose white, warm touches fallOn shivering shoulders and on bold,Bright shields armorial?

Of the phantom flowers of frostEnscrolled on the window clear?Of the fountain drop in the chill air lost,An Undine's frozen tear?

Of May bent low with the sweetsOf her bountiful white-thorn bloom?Of alabaster that repeatsThe pallor of grief and gloom?

Of the feathers of doves that slipAnd snow on the gable steep?Of slow stalactite's tear-white dripIn cavernous places deep?

Came she from Greenland floesWith Seraphita forth?Is she Madonna of the Snows?A sphinx of the icy North,

Sphinx buried by avalanche,The glacier's guardian ghost,Whose frozen secrets hide and blanchIn her white heart innermost?

What magic of what far nameShall this pale soul ignite?Ah! who shall flush with rose's flameThis cold, implacable white?

Words in this poem 18

boreal a.: Northern; pertaining to the north, or to the north wind; as, a boreal bird; a boreal blast. [L. borealis: cf. F. boréal. See Boreas.]
nacreous a.: Consisting of, or resembling, nacre; pearly. [See Nacre.]
wealth n.: Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
wage v. i.: To bind one's self; to engage.
dwell v. i.: To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
creamy a.: Full of, or containing, cream; resembling cream, in nature, appearance, or taste; creamlike; unctuous.
flit a.: Nimble; quick; swift. See Fleet.
pending a.: Not yet decided; in continuance; in suspense; as, a pending suit. [L. pendere to hang, to be suspended. Cf. Pendent.]
stainless a.: Free from stain; immaculate.
bountiful a.: Free in giving; liberal in bestowing gifts and favors.
pallor n.: Paleness; want of color; pallidity; as, pallor of the complexion. Jer. Taylor. [L., fr. pallere to be or look pale. See Pale, a.]
gable n.: A cable. Chapman.
drip v. i.: To fall in drops; as, water drips from the eaves. [Akin to LG. drippen, Dan. dryppe, from a noun. See Drop.]
cavernous a.: Full of caverns; resembling a cavern or large cavity; hollow. [L. cavernosus: cf. F. caverneux.]
madonna n.: My lady; -- a term of address in Italian formerly used as the equivalent of Madame, but for which Signora is now substituted. [It. madonna my lady. See Dame, Donna, and cf. Madame, Monkey.]
avalanche n.: A large mass or body of snow and ice sliding swiftly down a mountain side, or falling down a precipice. [F. avalanche, fr. avaler to descend, to let down, from aval down, downward; ad) + val, L. vallis, valley. See Valley.]
ghost n.: The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
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,]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Symphony in White Major is in the public domain. This text is taken from Enamels and Cameos and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #29521, the Agnes Lee translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.

Cite as: Théophile Gautier, Symphony in White Major, in Enamels and Cameos and Other Poems (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #29521, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/gautier-enamels-cameos/symphony-in-white-major.html, id L26993.

Form and metre

Symphony in White Major is 72 lines in 18 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).

See other poems in common measure.

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 eld^A · high^B · beheld^A · by^B
2 ABAB bright^A · low^B · white^A · snow^B
3 ABAB way^A · pallidest^B · ray^A · crest^B
4 ABAB win^A · rare^B · skin^A · fair^B
5 ABAB globes^A · war^B · robes^A · nebular^B
6 ABAB supreme^A · flower^B · seem^A · hour^B
7 ABAB bare^A · lends^B · fair^A · descends^B
8 ABAB snow^A · within^B · bestow^A · skin^B
9 ABAB drop^A · heaven^B · top^A · even^B
10 ABAB cold^A · dwell^B · hold^A · spell^B
11 ABAB keys^A · oft^B · these^A · soft^B
12 ABAB fold^A · fall^B · bold^A · armorial^B
13 ABAB frost^A · clear^B · lost^A · tear^B
14 ABAB sweets^A · bloom^B · repeats^A · gloom^B
15 ABAB slip^A · steep^B · drip^A · deep^B
16 ABAB floes^A · forth^B · snows^A · north^B
17 ABAB avalanche^A · ghost^B · blanch^A · innermost^B
18 ABAB name^A · ignite^B · flame^A · white^B

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 common measure. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
In the Northern tales of eld,	7	··/˘···
From the Rhine's escarpments high	7	···˘/˘·
Swan-women radiant were beheld,	8	·/˘/˘·˘/
Singing and floating by,	6	/˘·/˘·
Or, leaving their plumage bright	7	·/˘·/˘·
On a bough that was bending low,	8	·····/˘·
Displaying skin more gleaming white	8	˘/˘··/˘·
Than the white of their down of snow.	8	········
At times one comes our way,--	7	····/˘·
Of all she is pallidest,	7	····/˘˘
White as the moonbeam's shivering ray	8	···/·/˘·
On a glacier's icy crest.	7	··/˘/˘·
Her boreal bloom doth win	7	·/˘˘···
Our eyes to feasting rare	7	/˘··/˘·
On rich delight of nacreous skin,	9	··˘/·/˘˘·
And a wealth of whiteness fair.	7	····/˘·
Her rounded breasts, pale globes	6	·/˘···
Of snow, wage insolent war	7	···/˘˘·
With her camellias and her robes	8	········
Of whiteness nebular.	6	·/˘/˘˘
In such white wars supreme	6	····˘/
She wins, and weft and flower	7	·····/˘
Leave their revenge's right, and seem	8	··˘/˘···
Yellowed with envy's hour.	8	/˘˘·/˘/˘
On the white of her shoulder bare,	8	·····/˘·
Whose marble Paros lends,	6	·/˘/˘·
As through the Polar twilight fair,	8	···/˘/··
Invisible frost descends.	7	˘/˘˘·˘/
What beaming virgin snow,	6	·/˘/˘·
What pith a reed within,	6	······
What Host, what taper, did bestow	8	···/˘·˘/
The white of her matchless skin?	7	····/˘·
Was she made of a milky drop	8	·····/˘·
On the blue of a winter heaven?	9	·····/˘/˘
The lily-blow on the stem's green top?	9	·/˘······
The foam of the sea at even?	8	······/˘
Of the marble still and cold,	7	··/˘···
Wherein the great gods dwell?	6	······
Of creamy opal gems that hold	8	·/˘/˘···
Faint fires of mystic spell?	7	·/˘·/˘·
Or the organ's ivory keys?	8	··/˘/˘˘·
Her winged fingers oft	5	··/˘·
Like butterflies flit over these,	8	·/˘·····
With kisses pending soft.	6	·/˘/˘·
Of the ermine's stainless fold,	7	··/˘/˘·
Whose white, warm touches fall	6	···/˘·
On shivering shoulders and on bold,	8	·/˘/˘···
Bright shields armorial?	6	··˘/˘˘
Of the phantom flowers of frost	8	··/˘/˘··
Enscrolled on the window clear?	8	··˘··/˘·
Of the fountain drop in the chill air lost,	10	··/˘······
An Undine's frozen tear?	6	·/·/˘·
Of May bent low with the sweets	7	·······
Of her bountiful white-thorn bloom?	8	··/˘˘···
Of alabaster that repeats	8	·/˘·˘·˘/
The pallor of grief and gloom?	7	·/˘····
Of the feathers of doves that slip	8	··/˘····
And snow on the gable steep?	7	····/˘·
Of slow stalactite's tear-white drip	8	········
In cavernous places deep?	7	·/˘˘/˘·
Came she from Greenland floes	6	···/˘·
With Seraphita forth?	6	······
Is she Madonna of the Snows?	8	··˘/˘···
A sphinx of the icy North,	7	····/˘·
Sphinx buried by avalanche,	7	·/˘·/˘·
The glacier's guardian ghost,	7	·/˘/˘˘·
Whose frozen secrets hide and blanch	8	·/˘/˘···
In her white heart innermost?	7	····/˘·
What magic of what far name	7	·/˘····
Shall this pale soul ignite?	6	····˘/
Ah! who shall flush with rose's flame	8	·····/˘·
This cold, implacable white?	7	··˘/˘˘·

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.

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