Books and Flowers
Come! let me make a sunny realm around theeOf thought and beauty! Here are books and flowers,With spells to loose the fetter which hath bound theeThe ravel’d coil of this world’s feverish hours.
The soul of song is in these deathless pages,Even as the odour in the flower enshrined;Here the crown’d spirits of departed agesHave left the silent melodies of mind.
Their thoughts, that strove with time, and change, and anguish,For some high place where faith her wing might rest,Are burning here--a flame that may not languish--Still pointing upward to that bright hill’s crest!
Their grief, the veil’d infinity exploringFor treasures lost, is here;--their boundless love,Its mighty streams of gentleness outpouringOn all things round, and clasping all above.
And the bright beings, their own heart’s creations,Bright, yet all human, here are breathing still;Conflicts, and agonies, and exultationsAre here, and victories of prevailing will!
Listen! oh, listen! let their high words cheer thee!Their swan-like music ringing through all woes;Let my voice bring their holy influence near thee--The Elysian air of their divine repose!
Or would’st thou turn to earth? Not earth all furrow’dBy the old traces of man’s toil and care,But the green peaceful world that never sorrow’d,The world of leaves, and dews, and summer air!
Look on these flowers! as o’er an altar shedding,O’er Milton’s page, soft light from colour’d urns!They are the links, man’s heart to nature wedding,When to her breast the prodigal returns.
They are from lone wild places, forest dingles,Fresh banks of many a low-voiced hidden stream,Where the sweet star of eve looks down and minglesFaint lustre with the water-lily’s gleam.
They are from where the soft winds play in gladness,Covering the turf with flowery blossom-showers;--Too richly dower’d, O friend! are we for sadness--Look on an empire--mind and nature--ours!
Words in this poem
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- deathless a.
- Not subject to death, destruction, or extinction; immortal; undying; imperishable; as, deathless beings; deathless fame.
- odour n.
- Any smell, whether fragrant or offensive; scent; perfume. [OE. odor, odour, OF. odor, odour, F. odeur, fr. L. odor; akin to olere to smell, Gr. Olfactory, Osmium, Ozone, Redolent.]
- languish v. i.
- To cause to dr Shak.
- elysian a.
- Pertaining, or the abode of the blessed after death; hence, yielding the highest pleasures; exceedingly delightful; beatific. [L. Elysius, fr. Elysium.]
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- lustre n.
- A period of five years; a lustrum. [L. lustrum: cf. F. lustre.]
- sadness n.
- Heaviness; firmness.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Books and Flowers 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, Books and Flowers, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/books-and-flowers.html, id L19574.
Form and metre
Books and Flowers is 40 lines in 10 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
See other poems in iambic hexameter.
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 theeA · flowersB · theeA · hoursB
- 2 ABAB pagesA · enshrinedB · agesA · mindB
- 3 ABAB anguishA · restB · languishA · crestB
- 4 ABAB exploringA · loveB · outpouringA · aboveB
- 5 ABAB creationsA · stillB · exultationsA · willB
- 6 ABAB theeA · woesB · theeA · reposeB
- 7 ABAB furrow'dA · careB · sorrow'dA · airB
- 8 ABAB sheddingA · urnsB · weddingA · returnsB
- 9 ABAB dinglesA · streamB · minglesA · gleamB
- 10 ABAB gladnessA · showersB · sadnessA · oursB
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 hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Come! let me make a sunny realm around thee | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| Of thought and beauty! Here are books and flowers, | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| With spells to loose the fetter which hath bound thee | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| The ravel’d coil of this world’s feverish hours. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘/ |
| The soul of song is in these deathless pages, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Even as the odour in the flower enshrined; | 10 | /··/˘··/˘/ |
| Here the crown’d spirits of departed ages | 11 | ···/˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| Have left the silent melodies of mind. | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| Their thoughts, that strove with time, and change, and anguish, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| For some high place where faith her wing might rest, | 10 | ·········· |
| Are burning here--a flame that may not languish-- | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| Still pointing upward to that bright hill’s crest! | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Their grief, the veil’d infinity exploring | 11 | ····˘/˘˘˘/˘ |
| For treasures lost, is here;--their boundless love, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Its mighty streams of gentleness outpouring | 11 | ·/˘··/˘˘·/˘ |
| On all things round, and clasping all above. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And the bright beings, their own heart’s creations, | 11 | ···/˘···˘/˘ |
| Bright, yet all human, here are breathing still; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Conflicts, and agonies, and exultations | 10 | ˘/·/˘····· |
| Are here, and victories of prevailing will! | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Listen! oh, listen! let their high words cheer thee! | 11 | /˘·/˘······ |
| Their swan-like music ringing through all woes; | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Let my voice bring their holy influence near thee-- | 11 | ·····/˘/˘·· |
| The Elysian air of their divine repose! | 11 | ·˘/˘···˘/˘/ |
| Or would’st thou turn to earth? Not earth all furrow’d | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| By the old traces of man’s toil and care, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| But the green peaceful world that never sorrow’d, | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| The world of leaves, and dews, and summer air! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Look on these flowers! as o’er an altar shedding, | 11 | ···/···/˘/˘ |
| O’er Milton’s page, soft light from colour’d urns! | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| They are the links, man’s heart to nature wedding, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| When to her breast the prodigal returns. | 10 | ·····/˘˘˘/ |
| They are from lone wild places, forest dingles, | 11 | ·····/˘/˘/˘ |
| Fresh banks of many a low-voiced hidden stream, | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| Where the sweet star of eve looks down and mingles | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Faint lustre with the water-lily’s gleam. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/·· |
| They are from where the soft winds play in gladness, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Covering the turf with flowery blossom-showers; | 10 | /˘···/˘/˘/ |
| --Too richly dower’d, O friend! are we for sadness-- | 12 | ·/˘·······/˘ |
| Look on an empire--mind and nature--ours! | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
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