The Wanderer and the Night-Flowers
“Call back your odours, lovely flowers!From the night-winds call them back;And fold your leaves till the laughing hoursCome forth in the sunbeam’s track!
“The lark lies couch’d in her grassy nest,And the honey-bee is gone,And all bright things are away to rest--Why watch ye here alone?
“Is not your world a mournful one,When your sisters close their eyes,And your soft breath meets not a lingering toneOf song in the starry skies?
“Take ye no joy in the dayspring’s birthWhen it kindles the sparks of dew?And the thousand strains of the forest’s mirth,Shall they gladden all but you?
“Shut your sweet bells till the fawn comes outOn the sunny turf to play,And the woodland child with a fairy shoutGoes dancing on its way!”
“Nay! let our shadowy beauty bloomWhen the stars give quiet light,And let us offer our faint perfumeOn the silent shrine of night.
“Call it not wasted, the scent we lendTo the breeze, when no step is nigh:Oh, thus for ever the earth should sendHer grateful breath on high!
“And love us as emblems, night’s dewy flowers,Of hopes unto sorrow given,That spring through the gloom of the darkest hoursLooking alone to heaven!”
Words in this poem
- sunbeam n.
- A beam or ray of the sun. [AS. sunnebeam.]
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- dayspring n.
- The beginning of the day, or first appearance of light; the dawn; hence, the beginning.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- gladden v. t.
- To make glad; to cheer; to please; to gratify; to rejoice; to exhilarate. [See Glad, v. t.]
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Wanderer and the Night-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 Wanderer and the Night-Flowers, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-wanderer-and-the-night-flowers.html, id L19663.
Form and metre
The Wanderer and the Night-Flowers is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 5 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
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 flowersA · backB · hoursA · trackB
- 2 A-A- nestA · gone · restA · alone
- 3 -A-A one · eyesA · tone · skiesA
- 4 ABAB birthA · dewB · mirthA · youB
- 5 ABAB outA · playB · shoutA · wayB
- 6 ABAB bloomA · lightB · perfumeA · nightB
- 7 ABAB lendA · nighB · sendA · highB
- 8 A-A- flowersA · given · hoursA · 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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| “Call back your odours, lovely flowers! | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| From the night-winds call them back; | 7 | ······· |
| And fold your leaves till the laughing hours | 10 | ······/˘/˘ |
| Come forth in the sunbeam’s track! | 7 | ····/·· |
| “The lark lies couch’d in her grassy nest, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And the honey-bee is gone, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And all bright things are away to rest-- | 9 | ·····˘/·· |
| Why watch ye here alone? | 6 | ····˘/ |
| “Is not your world a mournful one, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When your sisters close their eyes, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And your soft breath meets not a lingering tone | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Of song in the starry skies? | 7 | ····/˘· |
| “Take ye no joy in the dayspring’s birth | 9 | ········· |
| When it kindles the sparks of dew? | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| And the thousand strains of the forest’s mirth, | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| Shall they gladden all but you? | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| “Shut your sweet bells till the fawn comes out | 9 | ········· |
| On the sunny turf to play, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And the woodland child with a fairy shout | 10 | ··/····/˘· |
| Goes dancing on its way!” | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| “Nay! let our shadowy beauty bloom | 10 | ··/˘/˘˘/˘· |
| When the stars give quiet light, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And let us offer our faint perfume | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| On the silent shrine of night. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| “Call it not wasted, the scent we lend | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| To the breeze, when no step is nigh: | 8 | ········ |
| Oh, thus for ever the earth should send | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Her grateful breath on high! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| “And love us as emblems, night’s dewy flowers, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘/˘ |
| Of hopes unto sorrow given, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| That spring through the gloom of the darkest hours | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Looking alone to heaven!” | 7 | /˘˘/·/˘ |
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.