The West a glimmering lake of light
THE West a glimmering lake of light,A dream of pearly weather,The first of stars is burning white—The star we watch together.Is April dead? The unresting yearWill shape us our September,And April’s work is done, my dear—Do you not remember?
O gracious eve! O happy star,Still-flashing, glowing, sinking!—Who lives of lovers near or farSo glad as I in thinking?The gallant world is warm and green,For May fulfils November.When lights and leaves and loves have been,Sweet, will you remember?
O star benignant and serene,I take the good to-morrow,That fills from verge to verge my dream,With all its joy and sorrow!The old, sweet spell is unforgotThat turns to June December;And, tho’ the world remembered not,Love, we would remember.
Words in this poem
- benignant a.
- Kind; gracious; favorable. [LL. benignans, p. pr. of benignare, from L. benignus. See Benign.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The West a glimmering lake of light is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #1568; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: W. E. Henley, The West a glimmering lake of light, in Poems (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1568, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/henley-poems/the-west-a-glimmering-lake-of-light.html, id L12405.
Form and metre
The West a glimmering lake of light is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.5 syllables. 12 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% 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 ABABCDCD lightA · weatherB · whiteA · togetherB · yearC · septemberD · dearC · rememberD
- 2 ABAB-C-C starA · sinkingB · farA · thinkingB · green · novemberC · been · rememberC
- 3 -A-ABCBC serene · morrowA · dream · sorrowA · unforgotB · decemberC · notB · rememberC
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 West a glimmering lake of light, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A dream of pearly weather, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| The first of stars is burning white— | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The star we watch together. | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Is April dead? The unresting year | 9 | ·/˘··˘/˘· |
| Will shape us our September, | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| And April’s work is done, my dear— | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Do you not remember? | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| O gracious eve! O happy star, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Still-flashing, glowing, sinking!— | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| Who lives of lovers near or far | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| So glad as I in thinking? | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The gallant world is warm and green, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| For May fulfils November. | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| When lights and leaves and loves have been, | 8 | ········ |
| Sweet, will you remember? | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| O star benignant and serene, | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| I take the good to-morrow, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| That fills from verge to verge my dream, | 8 | ········ |
| With all its joy and sorrow! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The old, sweet spell is unforgot | 8 | ········ |
| That turns to June December; | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| And, tho’ the world remembered not, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Love, we would remember. | 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.