The Dying Girl and Flowers
Bear them not from grassy dellsWhere wild bees have honey-cells;Not from where sweet water-soundsThrill the greenwood to its bounds;Not to waste their scented breathOn the silent room of Death!
Kindred to the breeze they are,And the glow-worm’s emerald star,And the bird whose song is free,And the many-whispering tree:Oh! too deep a love, and vain,They would win to earth again.
Spread them not before the eyesClosing fast on summer skies!Woo thou not the spirit backFrom its lone and viewless track,With the bright things which have birthWide o’er all the colour’d earth!
With the violet’s breath would riseThoughts too sad for her who dies;From the lily’s pearl-cup shed,Dreams too sweet would haunt her bed;Dreams of youth--of spring-time’s eves--Music--beauty--all she leaves!
Hush! ’tis thou that dreaming art,Calmer is her gentle heart.Yes! o’er fountain, vale, and grove,Leaf and flower, hath gush’d her love;But that passion, deep and true,Knows not of a last adieu.
Types of lovelier forms than theseIn their fragile mould she sees;Shadows of yet richer things,Born beside immortal springs,Into fuller glory wrought,Kindled by surpassing thought!
Therefore, in the lily’s leaf,She can read no word of grief;O’er the woodbine she can dwell,Murmuring not--Farewell! farewell!And her dim, yet speaking eyeGreets the violet solemnly.
Therefore once, and yet again,Strew them o’er her bed of pain;From her chamber take the gloomWith a light and flush of bloom:So should one depart, who goesWhere no death can touch the rose!
Words in this poem
- greenwood n.
- A forest as it appears is spring and summer.
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- viewless a.
- Not perceivable by the eye; invisible; unseen.
- calmer n.
- One who, or that which, makes calm.
- 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.]
- mould n.
- Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
- 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]
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Dying Girl 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, The Dying Girl and Flowers, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-dying-girl-and-flowers.html, id L19673.
Form and metre
The Dying Girl and Flowers is 48 lines in 8 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABBCC, complete in 6 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 AABBCC dellsA · cellsA · soundsB · boundsB · breathC · deathC
- 2 AABBCC areA · starA · freeB · treeB · vainC · againC
- 3 AABBCC eyesA · skiesA · backB · trackB · birthC · earthC
- 4 AABBCC riseA · diesA · shedB · bedB · evesC · leavesC
- 5 AA--BB artA · heartA · grove · love · trueB · adieuB
- 6 AABBCC theseA · seesA · thingsB · springsB · wroughtC · thoughtC
- 7 AABB-- leafA · griefA · dwellB · farewellB · eye · solemnly
- 8 AABBCC againA · painA · gloomB · bloomB · goesC · roseC
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Bear them not from grassy dells | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Where wild bees have honey-cells; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Not from where sweet water-sounds | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Thrill the greenwood to its bounds; | 7 | ··/···· |
| Not to waste their scented breath | 7 | ····/˘· |
| On the silent room of Death! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Kindred to the breeze they are, | 7 | /˘····· |
| And the glow-worm’s emerald star, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And the bird whose song is free, | 7 | ······· |
| And the many-whispering tree: | 7 | ··//˘˘· |
| Oh! too deep a love, and vain, | 7 | ······· |
| They would win to earth again. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Spread them not before the eyes | 7 | ······· |
| Closing fast on summer skies! | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Woo thou not the spirit back | 7 | ····/˘· |
| From its lone and viewless track, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| With the bright things which have birth | 7 | ······· |
| Wide o’er all the colour’d earth! | 7 | ····/˘· |
| With the violet’s breath would rise | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Thoughts too sad for her who dies; | 7 | ······· |
| From the lily’s pearl-cup shed, | 7 | ··/···· |
| Dreams too sweet would haunt her bed; | 7 | ······· |
| Dreams of youth--of spring-time’s eves-- | 7 | ······· |
| Music--beauty--all she leaves! | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Hush! ’tis thou that dreaming art, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Calmer is her gentle heart. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Yes! o’er fountain, vale, and grove, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Leaf and flower, hath gush’d her love; | 7 | ··/···· |
| But that passion, deep and true, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Knows not of a last adieu. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Types of lovelier forms than these | 8 | ········ |
| In their fragile mould she sees; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Shadows of yet richer things, | 7 | /···/˘· |
| Born beside immortal springs, | 7 | ·˘/˘/˘· |
| Into fuller glory wrought, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Kindled by surpassing thought! | 7 | /˘·˘/˘· |
| Therefore, in the lily’s leaf, | 7 | ····/·· |
| She can read no word of grief; | 7 | ······· |
| O’er the woodbine she can dwell, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Murmuring not--Farewell! farewell! | 7 | /˘··/·/ |
| And her dim, yet speaking eye | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Greets the violet solemnly. | 8 | ··/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Therefore once, and yet again, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Strew them o’er her bed of pain; | 7 | ······· |
| From her chamber take the gloom | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| With a light and flush of bloom: | 7 | ······· |
| So should one depart, who goes | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Where no death can touch the rose! | 7 | ······· |
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