Music of Yesterday
The chord, the harp’s full chord is hush’d,The voice hath died away,Whence music, like sweet waters, gush’dBut yesterday.
Th’ awakening note, the breeze-like swell.The full o’ersweeping tone,The sounds that sigh’d “Farewell, farewell!”Are gone--all gone!
The love, whose fervent spirit pass’dWith the rich measure’s flow;The grief, to which it sank at last--Where are they now?
They are with the scents by summer’s breathBorne from a rose now shed:With the words from lips long seal’d in death--For ever fled.
The sea-shell of its native deepA moaning thrill retains;But earth and air no record keepOf parted strains.
And all the memories, all the dreams,They woke in floating by;The tender thoughts, th’ Elysian gleams--Could these too die?
They died! As on the water’s breastThe ripple melts away,When the breeze that stirr’d it sinks to rest--So perish’d they!
Mysterious in their sudden birth,And mournful in their close,Passing, and finding not on earthAim or repose.
Whence were they?--like the breath of flowersWhy thus to come and go?A long, long journey must be oursEre this we know!
Words in this poem
- fervent a.
- Hot; glowing; boiling; burning; as, a fervent summer. [F. fervent, L. fervens, -entis. p.pr. of fervere o the boiling hot, to boil, glow.]
- elysian a.
- Pertaining, or the abode of the blessed after death; hence, yielding the highest pleasures; exceedingly delightful; beatific. [L. Elysius, fr. Elysium.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Music of Yesterday 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, Music of Yesterday, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/music-of-yesterday.html, id L19397.
Form and metre
Music of Yesterday is 36 lines in 9 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 7 of its 9 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 hush'dA · awayB · gush'dA · yesterdayB
- 2 A-A- swellA · tone · farewellA · gone
- 3 A-A- pass'dA · flow · lastA · now
- 4 ABAB breathA · shedB · deathA · fledB
- 5 ABAB deepA · retainsB · keepA · strainsB
- 6 ABAB dreamsA · byB · gleamsA · dieB
- 7 ABAB breastA · awayB · restA · theyB
- 8 ABAB birthA · closeB · earthA · reposeB
- 9 ABAB flowersA · goB · oursA · knowB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The chord, the harp’s full chord is hush’d, | 8 | ········ |
| The voice hath died away, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Whence music, like sweet waters, gush’d | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| But yesterday. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Th’ awakening note, the breeze-like swell. | 9 | ˘/˘˘····· |
| The full o’ersweeping tone, | 6 | ······ |
| The sounds that sigh’d “Farewell, farewell!” | 8 | ·····/·/ |
| Are gone--all gone! | 4 | ···· |
| The love, whose fervent spirit pass’d | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| With the rich measure’s flow; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The grief, to which it sank at last-- | 8 | ········ |
| Where are they now? | 4 | ···· |
| They are with the scents by summer’s breath | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Borne from a rose now shed: | 6 | ······ |
| With the words from lips long seal’d in death-- | 9 | ········· |
| For ever fled. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| The sea-shell of its native deep | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A moaning thrill retains; | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| But earth and air no record keep | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| Of parted strains. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And all the memories, all the dreams, | 9 | ···/˘˘··· |
| They woke in floating by; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The tender thoughts, th’ Elysian gleams-- | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Could these too die? | 4 | ···· |
| They died! As on the water’s breast | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The ripple melts away, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| When the breeze that stirr’d it sinks to rest-- | 9 | ········· |
| So perish’d they! | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Mysterious in their sudden birth, | 9 | ˘/˘˘··/˘· |
| And mournful in their close, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Passing, and finding not on earth | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Aim or repose. | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Whence were they?--like the breath of flowers | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Why thus to come and go? | 6 | ······ |
| A long, long journey must be ours | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Ere this we know! | 4 | ···· |
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.