A Remembrance of Grasmere
O vale and lake, within your mountain-urnSmiling so tranquilly, and set so deep!Oft doth your dreamy loveliness return,Colouring the tender shadows of my sleepWith light Elysian; for the hues that steepYour shores in melting lustre, seem to floatOn golden clouds from spirit-lands remote,Isles of the blest; and in our memory keepTheir place with holiest harmonies. Fair scene,Most loved by evening and her dewy star!Oh! ne’er may man, with touch unhallow’d, jarThe perfect music of thy charm serene!Still, still unchanged, may one sweet region wearSmiles that subdue the soul to love, and tears, and prayer.
“Mourn rather for that holy spirit,Sweet as the spring, as ocean deep,For her who, ere her summer faded,Has sunk into a breathless sleep.”
Words in this poem
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- tranquilly adv.
- In a tranquil manner; calmly.
- dreamy a.
- Abounding in dreams or given to dreaming; appropriate to, or like, dreams; visionary.
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
- colouring n.
- The act of applying color to; also, that which produces color.
- elysian a.
- Pertaining, or the abode of the blessed after death; hence, yielding the highest pleasures; exceedingly delightful; beatific. [L. Elysius, fr. Elysium.]
- lustre n.
- A period of five years; a lustrum. [L. lustrum: cf. F. lustre.]
- breathless a.
- Spent with labor or violent action; out of breath.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Remembrance of Grasmere is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Felicia Hemans, Project Gutenberg ebook #66785; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Felicia Hemans, A Remembrance of Grasmere, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/a-remembrance-of-grasmere.html, id L19803.
Form and metre
A Remembrance of Grasmere is 18 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABABBCCBDEEDFF urnA · deepB · returnA · sleepB · steepB · floatC · remoteC · keepB · sceneD · starE · jarE · sereneD · wearF · prayerF
- 2 -A-A spirit · deepA · faded · sleepA
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| O vale and lake, within your mountain-urn | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Smiling so tranquilly, and set so deep! | 10 | /˘·/˘˘···· |
| Oft doth your dreamy loveliness return, | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| Colouring the tender shadows of my sleep | 10 | /˘·/˘/···· |
| With light Elysian; for the hues that steep | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Your shores in melting lustre, seem to float | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| On golden clouds from spirit-lands remote, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Isles of the blest; and in our memory keep | 10 | ······//˘· |
| Their place with holiest harmonies. Fair scene, | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| Most loved by evening and her dewy star! | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Oh! ne’er may man, with touch unhallow’d, jar | 10 | ·········· |
| The perfect music of thy charm serene! | 10 | ·/·/˘···˘/ |
| Still, still unchanged, may one sweet region wear | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Smiles that subdue the soul to love, and tears, and prayer. | 12 | ··˘/········ |
| “Mourn rather for that holy spirit, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Sweet as the spring, as ocean deep, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For her who, ere her summer faded, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Has sunk into a breathless sleep.” | 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.