Song
The stars are with the voyagerWherever he may sail;The moon is constant to her time;The sun will never fail;But follow, follow round the world,The green earth and the sea,So love is with the lover's heart,Wherever he may be.
Wherever he may be, the starsMust daily lose their light;The moon will veil her in the shade;The sun will set at night.The sun may set, but constant loveWill shine when he's away;So that dull night is never night,And day is brighter day.
O Lady, leave thy silken threadAnd flowery tapestrie:There's living roses on the bush,And blossoms on the tree;Stoop where thou wilt, thy careless handSome random bud will meet;Thou canst not tread, but thou wilt findThe daisy at thy feet.
'Tis like the birthday of the world,When earth was born in bloom;The light is made of many dyes,The air is all perfume;There's crimson buds, and white and blue--The very rainbow showersHave turn'd to blossoms where they fell,And sown the earth with flowers.
There's fairy tulips in the east,The garden of the sun;The very streams reflect the hues,And blossom as they run:While Morn opes like a crimson rose,Still wet with pearly showers;Then, lady, leave the silken threadThou twinest into flowers!
Words in this poem
- voyager n.
- One who voyages; one who sails or passes by sea or water. [Cf. F. voyager traveling.]
- wherever adv.
- At or in whatever place; wheresoever.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Song is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Thomas Hood, Project Gutenberg ebook #15652; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Hood, Song, in The Song of the Shirt, and Other Poems (1826–1845), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #15652, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hood-poetical-works/song.html, id L20065.
Form and metre
Song is 40 lines in 5 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%).
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 -A-A-B-B voyager · sailA · time · failA · world · seaB · heart · beB
- 2 -A-A-BAB stars · lightA · shade · nightA · love · awayB · nightA · dayB
- 3 -----A-A thread · tapestrie · bush · tree · hand · meetA · find · feetA
- 4 -ABA-B-B world · bloomA · dyesB · perfumeA · blue · showersB · fell · flowersB
- 5 -ABABB-B east · sunA · huesB · runA · roseB · showersB · thread · flowersB
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 stars are with the voyager | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Wherever he may sail; | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| The moon is constant to her time; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The sun will never fail; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But follow, follow round the world, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The green earth and the sea, | 6 | ······ |
| So love is with the lover's heart, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Wherever he may be. | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| Wherever he may be, the stars | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| Must daily lose their light; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The moon will veil her in the shade; | 8 | ········ |
| The sun will set at night. | 6 | ······ |
| The sun may set, but constant love | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Will shine when he's away; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| So that dull night is never night, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And day is brighter day. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| O Lady, leave thy silken thread | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And flowery tapestrie: | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| There's living roses on the bush, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And blossoms on the tree; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Stoop where thou wilt, thy careless hand | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Some random bud will meet; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Thou canst not tread, but thou wilt find | 8 | ········ |
| The daisy at thy feet. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| 'Tis like the birthday of the world, | 8 | ···/···· |
| When earth was born in bloom; | 6 | ······ |
| The light is made of many dyes, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The air is all perfume; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| There's crimson buds, and white and blue-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The very rainbow showers | 7 | ·/˘/·/˘ |
| Have turn'd to blossoms where they fell, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And sown the earth with flowers. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| There's fairy tulips in the east, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The garden of the sun; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The very streams reflect the hues, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| And blossom as they run: | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| While Morn opes like a crimson rose, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Still wet with pearly showers; | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Then, lady, leave the silken thread | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Thou twinest into flowers! | 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.