Lily-Of-The-Valley
DARLING of the cloistered flowers,Rising meekly after showers,Every cup a waving censer,—Winds are softer at thy coming;By thee goes the wild bee, hummingMusic richer and intenser.
Indian balsam is thy breathing,Sabbath stillness thy enwreathing;Peace and thee no thought can sever.In thy plaintive looks and tender,Things of long-forgotten splendorThrill my inmost spirit ever.
And I love thee in such fashion,With so much of truth and passion,In this sad wish to enshrine thee:Only pure hearts be thy wearers,Only gentlest hands thy bearers,Even if therefore mine resign thee;
Even if now I yield thee whollyTo the pure and gentle solely,On whose breast thy cheek is lying!Droop and glisten where she laid thee,And remember me that made thee,Dear, so happy in thy dying.
Words in this poem
- cloistered a.
- Dwelling in cloisters; solitary.
- meekly adv.
- In a meek manner.
- censer n.
- A vessel for perfumes; esp. one in which incense is burned. [For incenser, fr. OF. encensier, F. encensoir, fr. LL. incensarium, incensorium, fr. L. incensum incense. See Incense, and cf. Incensory.]
- stillness n.
- The quality or state of being still; quietness; silence; calmness; inactivity.
- inmost a.
- Deepest within; farthest from the surface or external part; innermost. [OE. innemest, AS. innemest, a double superlative form fr. inne within, fr. in in. The modern form is due to confusion with most. See In, and cf. Aftermost, Fore]
- enshrine v. t.
- To inclose in a shrine or chest; hence, to preserve or cherish as something sacred; as, to enshrine something in memory.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Lily-Of-The-Valley is in the public domain. This text is taken from Songs at the Start, Project Gutenberg ebook #53087; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Louise Imogen Guiney, Lily-Of-The-Valley, in Songs at the Start (1884), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #53087, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/guiney-songs/lily-of-the-valley.html, id L11224.
Form and metre
Lily-Of-The-Valley is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABCCB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 18 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 flowersA · showersA · censerB · comingC · hummingC · intenserB
- 2 AABCCB breathingA · enwreathingA · severB · tenderC · splendorC · everB
- 3 AABCCB fashionA · passionA · theeB · wearersC · bearersC · theeB
- 4 --ABBA wholly · solely · lyingA · theeB · theeB · dyingA
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| DARLING of the cloistered flowers, | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| Rising meekly after showers, | 8 | /˘/˘··/˘ |
| Every cup a waving censer,— | 9 | /˘˘··/˘/˘ |
| Winds are softer at thy coming; | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| By thee goes the wild bee, humming | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Music richer and intenser. | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| Indian balsam is thy breathing, | 9 | /˘˘/˘··/˘ |
| Sabbath stillness thy enwreathing; | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| Peace and thee no thought can sever. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| In thy plaintive looks and tender, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Things of long-forgotten splendor | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| Thrill my inmost spirit ever. | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| And I love thee in such fashion, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| With so much of truth and passion, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| In this sad wish to enshrine thee: | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| Only pure hearts be thy wearers, | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| Only gentlest hands thy bearers, | 9 | /˘/˘˘··/˘ |
| Even if therefore mine resign thee; | 8 | /····˘/· |
| Even if now I yield thee wholly | 9 | /˘·····/˘ |
| To the pure and gentle solely, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| On whose breast thy cheek is lying! | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Droop and glisten where she laid thee, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| And remember me that made thee, | 8 | ·˘/˘···· |
| Dear, so happy in thy dying. | 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.