Bring Flowers
Bring flowers, young flowers, for the festal board,To wreath the cup ere the wine is pour’d!Bring flowers! they are springing in wood and vale:Their breath floats out on the southern gale,And the touch of the sunbeam hath waked the rose,To deck the hall where the bright wine flows.
Bring flowers to strew in the conqueror’s path!He hath shaken thrones with his stormy wrath:He comes with the spoils of nations back,The vines lie crush’d in his chariot’s track,The turf looks red where he won the day.Bring flowers to die in the conqueror’s way!
Bring flowers to the captive’s lonely cell!They have tales of the joyous woods to tell--Of the free blue streams, and the glowing sky,And the bright world shut from his languid eye;They will bear him a thought of the sunny hours,And the dream of his youth. Bring him flowers, wild flowers!
Bring flowers, fresh flowers, for the bride to wear!They were born to blush in her shining hair.She is leaving the home of her childhood’s mirth,She hath bid farewell to her father’s hearth,Her place is now by another’s side.Bring flowers for the locks of the fair young bride!
Bring flowers, pale flowers, o’er the bier to shed,A crown for the brow of the early dead!For this through its leaves hath the white rose burst,For this in the woods was the violet nursed!Though they smile in vain for what once was ours,They are love’s last gift. Bring ye flowers, pale flowers!
Bring flowers to the shrine where we kneel in prayer--They are nature’s offering, their place is there!They speak of hope to the fainting heart,With a voice of promise they come and part,They sleep in dust through the wintry hours,They break forth in glory. Bring flowers, bright flowers!
Words in this poem
- festal a.
- Of or pertaining to a holiday or a feast; joyous; festive. [L. festum holiday, feast. See feast.]
- 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.]
- sunbeam n.
- A beam or ray of the sun. [AS. sunnebeam.]
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- childhood n.
- The state of being a child; the time in which persons are children; the condition or time from infancy to puberty. [AS. cildhad; cild child + -had. See Child, and hood.]
- bier n.
- A handbarrow or portable frame on which a corpse is placed or borne to the grave. [OE. bæe, beere, AS. b, b; akin to D. baar, OHG. bara, G. bahre, Icel barar, Dbaare, L. feretrum, Gr. , from the same bear to produce. See 1st Bear, and cf. Barr]
- kneel v. i.
- To bend the knee; to fall or rest on the knees; -- sometimes with down. [OE. knelen, cneolien; akin to D. knielen, Dan. knæle. See Knee.]
- wintry a.
- Suitable to winter; resembling winter, or what belongs to winter; brumal; hyemal; cold; stormy; wintery. [AS. wintrig.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Bring 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, Bring Flowers, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/bring-flowers.html, id L19368.
Form and metre
Bring Flowers is 36 lines in 6 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABBCC, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 73%).
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 AABBCC boardA · pour'dA · valeB · galeB · roseC · flowsC
- 2 AABBCC pathA · wrathA · backB · trackB · dayC · wayC
- 3 AABBCC cellA · tellA · skyB · eyeB · hoursC · flowersC
- 4 AA--BB wearA · hairA · mirth · hearth · sideB · brideB
- 5 AABBCC shedA · deadA · burstB · nursedB · oursC · flowersC
- 6 AABBCC prayerA · thereA · heartB · partB · hoursC · flowersC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Bring flowers, young flowers, for the festal board, | 10 | ·/·/˘··/˘· |
| To wreath the cup ere the wine is pour’d! | 9 | ········· |
| Bring flowers! they are springing in wood and vale: | 10 | ·/··/˘···· |
| Their breath floats out on the southern gale, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And the touch of the sunbeam hath waked the rose, | 11 | ·····/····· |
| To deck the hall where the bright wine flows. | 9 | ········· |
| Bring flowers to strew in the conqueror’s path! | 10 | ·/····/˘˘· |
| He hath shaken thrones with his stormy wrath: | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| He comes with the spoils of nations back, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| The vines lie crush’d in his chariot’s track, | 10 | ······/˘˘· |
| The turf looks red where he won the day. | 9 | ········· |
| Bring flowers to die in the conqueror’s way! | 10 | ·/····/˘˘· |
| Bring flowers to the captive’s lonely cell! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| They have tales of the joyous woods to tell-- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Of the free blue streams, and the glowing sky, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And the bright world shut from his languid eye; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| They will bear him a thought of the sunny hours, | 11 | ········/˘/ |
| And the dream of his youth. Bring him flowers, wild flowers! | 11 | ········/·/ |
| Bring flowers, fresh flowers, for the bride to wear! | 10 | ·/·/˘····· |
| They were born to blush in her shining hair. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| She is leaving the home of her childhood’s mirth, | 11 | ··/˘····/·· |
| She hath bid farewell to her father’s hearth, | 10 | ····/··/˘· |
| Her place is now by another’s side. | 9 | ·····˘/˘· |
| Bring flowers for the locks of the fair young bride! | 10 | ·/········ |
| Bring flowers, pale flowers, o’er the bier to shed, | 10 | ·/·/˘····· |
| A crown for the brow of the early dead! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| For this through its leaves hath the white rose burst, | 10 | ·········· |
| For this in the woods was the violet nursed! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Though they smile in vain for what once was ours, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| They are love’s last gift. Bring ye flowers, pale flowers! | 11 | ·······/·/˘ |
| Bring flowers to the shrine where we kneel in prayer-- | 10 | ·/········ |
| They are nature’s offering, their place is there! | 10 | ··/˘/˘···· |
| They speak of hope to the fainting heart, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| With a voice of promise they come and part, | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| They sleep in dust through the wintry hours, | 10 | ······/˘/˘ |
| They break forth in glory. Bring flowers, bright flowers! | 11 | ····/˘·/·/˘ |
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.