The Sunbeam
Thou art no lingerer in monarch’s hall--A joy thou art, and a wealth to all!A bearer of hope unto land and sea--Sunbeam! what gift hath the world like thee?
Thou art walking the billows, and ocean smiles;Thou hast touch’d with glory his thousand isles;Thou hast lit up the ships and the feathery foam,And gladden’d the sailor like words from home.
To the solemn depths of the forest-shades,Thou art streaming on through their green arcades;And the quivering leaves that have caught thy glowLike fire-flies glance to the pools below.
I look’d on the mountains--a vapour layFolding their heights in its dark array:Thou brakest forth, and the mist becameA crown and a mantle of living flame.
I look’d on the peasant’s lowly cot--Something of sadness had wrapt the spot;But a gleam of thee on its lattice fell,And it laugh’d into beauty at that bright spell.
To the earth’s wild places a guest thou art,Flushing the waste like the rose’s heart;And thou scornest not from thy pomp to shedA tender smile on the ruin’s head.
Thou tak’st through the dim church-aisle thy way,And its pillars from twilight flash forth to day,And its high, pale tombs, with their trophies old,Are bathed in a flood as of molten gold.
And thou turnest not from the humblest grave,Where a flower to the sighing winds may wave;Thou scatter’st its gloom like the dreams of rest,Thou sleepest in love on its grassy breast.
Sunbeam of summer! oh, what is like thee?Hope of the wilderness, joy of the sea!--One thing is like thee to mortals given,The faith touching all things with hues of heaven!
Words in this poem
- lingerer n.
- One who lingers. Guardian.
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- sunbeam n.
- A beam or ray of the sun. [AS. sunnebeam.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- gladden v. t.
- To make glad; to cheer; to please; to gratify; to rejoice; to exhilarate. [See Glad, v. t.]
- streaming a.
- Sending forth streams.
- vapour n.
- Any substance in the gaseous, or aëriform, state, the condition of which is ordinarily that of a liquid or solid. [OE. vapour, OF. vapour, vapor, vapeur, F. vapeur, L. vapor; probably for cvapor, and akin to Gr. kvepti to breathe, smell, Russ. kopote fine soot. Cf. Vapid.]
- sadness n.
- Heaviness; firmness.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Sunbeam 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 Sunbeam, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-sunbeam.html, id L19453.
Form and metre
The Sunbeam is 36 lines in 9 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 8 of its 9 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 74%).
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 AABB hallA · allA · seaB · theeB
- 2 AABB smilesA · islesA · foamB · homeB
- 3 AABB shadesA · arcadesA · glowB · belowB
- 4 AABB layA · arrayA · becameB · flameB
- 5 AABB cotA · spotA · fellB · spellB
- 6 AABB artA · heartA · shedB · headB
- 7 AABB wayA · dayA · oldB · goldB
- 8 AABB graveA · waveA · restB · breastB
- 9 AA-- theeA · seaA · given · heaven
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thou art no lingerer in monarch’s hall-- | 10 | ···/˘˘·/·· |
| A joy thou art, and a wealth to all! | 9 | ········· |
| A bearer of hope unto land and sea-- | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Sunbeam! what gift hath the world like thee? | 9 | /········ |
| Thou art walking the billows, and ocean smiles; | 10 | ··/˘·/˘·/· |
| Thou hast touch’d with glory his thousand isles; | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| Thou hast lit up the ships and the feathery foam, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| And gladden’d the sailor like words from home. | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| To the solemn depths of the forest-shades, | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| Thou art streaming on through their green arcades; | 10 | ··/˘····˘/ |
| And the quivering leaves that have caught thy glow | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| Like fire-flies glance to the pools below. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| I look’d on the mountains--a vapour lay | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| Folding their heights in its dark array: | 9 | /˘·····˘/ |
| Thou brakest forth, and the mist became | 9 | ·/˘····˘/ |
| A crown and a mantle of living flame. | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| I look’d on the peasant’s lowly cot-- | 9 | ····/˘/˘· |
| Something of sadness had wrapt the spot; | 9 | /˘·/˘···· |
| But a gleam of thee on its lattice fell, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And it laugh’d into beauty at that bright spell. | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| To the earth’s wild places a guest thou art, | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| Flushing the waste like the rose’s heart; | 9 | /˘····/˘· |
| And thou scornest not from thy pomp to shed | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| A tender smile on the ruin’s head. | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| Thou tak’st through the dim church-aisle thy way, | 9 | ········· |
| And its pillars from twilight flash forth to day, | 11 | ··/˘·/····· |
| And its high, pale tombs, with their trophies old, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Are bathed in a flood as of molten gold. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And thou turnest not from the humblest grave, | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| Where a flower to the sighing winds may wave; | 10 | ··/··/˘··· |
| Thou scatter’st its gloom like the dreams of rest, | 10 | ·········· |
| Thou sleepest in love on its grassy breast. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Sunbeam of summer! oh, what is like thee? | 10 | /··/˘····· |
| Hope of the wilderness, joy of the sea!-- | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| One thing is like thee to mortals given, | 10 | ······/˘/˘ |
| The faith touching all things with hues of heaven! | 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.