Sun and Shadow
As I look from the isle, o'er its billows of green,To the billows of foam-crested blue,Yon bark, that afar in the distance is seen,Half dreaming, my eyes will pursueNow dark in the shadow, she scatters the sprayAs the chaff in the stroke of the flail;Now white as the sea-gull, she flies on her way,The sun gleaming bright on her sail.
Yet her pilot is thinking of dangers to shun,--Of breakers that whiten and roar;How little he cares, if in shadow or sunThey see him who gaze from the shore!He looks to the beacon that looms from the reef,To the rock that is under his lee,As he drifts on the blast, like a wind-wafted leaf,O'er the gulfs of the desolate sea.
Thus drifting afar to the dim-vaulted cavesWhere life and its ventures are laid,The dreamers who gaze while we battle the wavesMay see us in sunshine or shade;Yet true to our course, though the shadows grow dark,We'll trim our broad sail as before,And stand by the rudder that governs the bark,Nor ask how we look from the shore!
Words in this poem
- isle v. t.
- To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sun and Shadow is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Volume 06 Poems from the Breakfast Table Series, Project Gutenberg ebook #7393; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sun and Shadow, in Poems from the Breakfast-Table Series (1858), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7393, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/holmes-breakfast-table-poems/sun-and-shadow.html, id L23556.
Form and metre
Sun and Shadow is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDCD. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%).
See other poems in anapaestic 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 greenA · blueB · seenA · pursueB · sprayC · flailD · wayC · sailD
- 2 ABABCDCD shunA · roarB · sunA · shoreB · reefC · leeD · leafC · seaD
- 3 ABABCDCD cavesA · laidB · wavesA · shadeB · darkC · beforeD · barkC · shoreD
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| As I look from the isle, o'er its billows of green, | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| To the billows of foam-crested blue, | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| Yon bark, that afar in the distance is seen, | 11 | ···˘/··/˘·· |
| Half dreaming, my eyes will pursue | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Now dark in the shadow, she scatters the spray | 11 | ····/··/˘·· |
| As the chaff in the stroke of the flail; | 9 | ········· |
| Now white as the sea-gull, she flies on her way, | 11 | ··········· |
| The sun gleaming bright on her sail. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Yet her pilot is thinking of dangers to shun,-- | 12 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| Of breakers that whiten and roar; | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
| How little he cares, if in shadow or sun | 11 | ·/˘····/··· |
| They see him who gaze from the shore! | 8 | ········ |
| He looks to the beacon that looms from the reef, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| To the rock that is under his lee, | 9 | ········· |
| As he drifts on the blast, like a wind-wafted leaf, | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| O'er the gulfs of the desolate sea. | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Thus drifting afar to the dim-vaulted caves | 11 | ·/˘˘/···/˘· |
| Where life and its ventures are laid, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| The dreamers who gaze while we battle the waves | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| May see us in sunshine or shade; | 8 | ····/··· |
| Yet true to our course, though the shadows grow dark, | 11 | ···/···/··· |
| We'll trim our broad sail as before, | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| And stand by the rudder that governs the bark, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| Nor ask how we look from the shore! | 8 | ········ |
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.