Gesner: Morning Song
Hail! morning sun, thus early bright;Welcome, sweet dawn! thou younger day!Through the dark woods that fringe the height,Beams forth, e’en now, thy ray.
Bright on the dew it sparkles clear,Bright on the water’s glittering fall,And life, and joy, and health appear,Sweet Morning! at thy call.
Now thy fresh breezes lightly springFrom beds of fragrance, where they lay,And roving wild on dewy wing,Drive slumber far away.
Fantastic dreams, in swift retreat,Now from each mind withdraw their spell;While the young loves delighted meet,On Rosa’s cheek to dwell.
Speed, zephyr! kiss each opening flower,Its fragrant spirit make thine own;Then wing thy way to Rosa’s bower,Ere her light sleep is flown.
There, o’er her downy pillow fly,Wake the sweet maid to life and day;Breathe on her balmy lip a sigh,And o’er her bosom play;
And whisper, when her eyes unveil,That I, since morning’s earliest call,Have sigh’d her name to ev’ry galeBy the lone waterfall.
Words in this poem
- delighted a.
- Endowed with delight.
- 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]
- zephyr n.
- The west wind; poetically, any soft, gentle breeze. [L. zephyrus, Gr. zéphyr.]
- flown a.
- Flushed, inflated.
- balmy a.
- Having the qualities of balm; odoriferous; aromatic; assuaging; soothing; refreshing; mild.
- unveil v. t.
- To remove a veil from; to divest of a veil; to uncover; to disclose to view; to reveal; as, she unveiled her face. [1st pref. un- + veil.]
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Gesner: Morning Song 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, Gesner: Morning Song, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/gesner-morning-song.html, id L13462.
Form and metre
Gesner: Morning Song is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.7 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 7% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic 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 ABAB brightA · dayB · heightA · rayB
- 2 ABAB clearA · fallB · appearA · callB
- 3 ABAB springA · layB · wingA · awayB
- 4 ABAB retreatA · spellB · meetA · dwellB
- 5 ABAB flowerA · ownB · bowerA · flownB
- 6 ABAB flyA · dayB · sighA · playB
- 7 ABAB unveilA · callB · galeA · waterfallB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Hail! morning sun, thus early bright; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Welcome, sweet dawn! thou younger day! | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Through the dark woods that fringe the height, | 8 | ········ |
| Beams forth, e’en now, thy ray. | 6 | ······ |
| Bright on the dew it sparkles clear, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Bright on the water’s glittering fall, | 9 | ···/˘/˘˘· |
| And life, and joy, and health appear, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Sweet Morning! at thy call. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Now thy fresh breezes lightly spring | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| From beds of fragrance, where they lay, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And roving wild on dewy wing, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Drive slumber far away. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Fantastic dreams, in swift retreat, | 8 | ˘/˘···˘/ |
| Now from each mind withdraw their spell; | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| While the young loves delighted meet, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| On Rosa’s cheek to dwell. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Speed, zephyr! kiss each opening flower, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘/˘ |
| Its fragrant spirit make thine own; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Then wing thy way to Rosa’s bower, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Ere her light sleep is flown. | 6 | ······ |
| There, o’er her downy pillow fly, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Wake the sweet maid to life and day; | 8 | ········ |
| Breathe on her balmy lip a sigh, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And o’er her bosom play; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And whisper, when her eyes unveil, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| That I, since morning’s earliest call, | 9 | ···/˘/˘˘· |
| Have sigh’d her name to ev’ry gale | 8 | ········ |
| By the lone waterfall. | 6 | ···/˘· |
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.