Verses in an Album
Far above the hollowTempest, and its moan,Singeth bright ApolloIn his golden zone,--Cloud doth never shade him,Nor a storm invade him,On his joyous throne.
So when I behold meIn an orb as bright,How thy soul doth fold meIn its throne of light!Sorrow never paineth,Nor a care attainethTo that blessed height.
About this text
Verses in an Album 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, Verses in an Album, 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/verses-in-an-album.html, id L20063.
Form and metre
Verses in an Album is 14 lines in 2 stanzas of 7 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCCB. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in trochaic trimeter.
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 ABABCCB hollowA · moanB · apolloA · zoneB · himC · himC · throneB
- 2 ABABCCB meA · brightB · meA · lightB · painethC · attainethC · heightB
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 trochaic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Far above the hollow | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Tempest, and its moan, | 5 | /˘··· |
| Singeth bright Apollo | 6 | /˘·˘/˘ |
| In his golden zone,-- | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Cloud doth never shade him, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Nor a storm invade him, | 6 | ···˘/· |
| On his joyous throne. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| So when I behold me | 6 | ···˘/· |
| In an orb as bright, | 5 | ····· |
| How thy soul doth fold me | 6 | ······ |
| In its throne of light! | 5 | ····· |
| Sorrow never paineth, | 6 | /˘/˘/˘ |
| Nor a care attaineth | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| To that blessed height. | 5 | ···˘· |
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.