The Church of a Dream
Sadly the dead leaves rustle in the whistling wind,Around the weather-worn, gray church, low down the vale:The Saints in golden vesture shake before the gale;The glorious windows shake, where still they dwell enshrined;Old Saints, by long dead, shrivelled hands, long since designed:There still, although the world autumnal be, and pale,Still in their golden vesture the old saints prevail;Alone with Christ, desolate else, left by mankind.
Only one ancient Priest offers the Sacrifice,Murmuring holy Latin immemorial:Swaying with tremulous hands the old censer full of spice,In gray, sweet incense clouds; blue, sweet clouds mystical:To him, in place of men, for he is old, sufficeMelancholy remembrances and vesperal.
Words in this poem
- sadly adv.
- Wearily; heavily; firmly.
- rustle v. i.
- To make a quick succession of small sounds, like the rubbing or moving of silk cloth or dry leaves. [AS. hristlan to rustle; or cf. Sw. rusta to stir, make a riot, or E. rush, v.]
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- immemorial a.
- Extending beyond the reach of memory, record, or tradition; indefinitely ancient; as, existing from time immemorial. [Pref. im- not + memorial: cf. F. immémorial.]
- censer n.
- A vessel for perfumes; esp. one in which incense is burned. [For incenser, fr. OF. encensier, F. encensoir, fr. LL. incensarium, incensorium, fr. L. incensum incense. See Incense, and cf. Incensory.]
- suffice v. i.
- To be enough, or sufficient; to meet the need (of anything); to be equal to the end proposed; to be adequate. [OE. suffisen, OF. soufire, F. suffire (cf. suffisant, p.pr.), L. sufficere to put under, to substitute, to avail for, to suffice; sub under + facere to make. Se]
- vesperal a.
- Vesper; evening.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Church of a Dream is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #66520; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Lionel Johnson, The Church of a Dream, in Poems (1895), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66520, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-lionel-poems/the-church-of-a-dream.html, id L12524.
Form and metre
The Church of a Dream is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%).
See other poems in iambic hexameter.
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 ABBAABBA windA · valeB · galeB · enshrinedA · designedA · paleB · prevailB · mankindA
- 2 A-A-A- sacrificeA · immemorial · spiceA · mystical · sufficeA · vesperal
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 hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Sadly the dead leaves rustle in the whistling wind, | 12 | /˘···/˘··/˘· |
| Around the weather-worn, gray church, low down the vale: | 12 | ···/˘······· |
| The Saints in golden vesture shake before the gale; | 12 | ···/˘/˘····· |
| The glorious windows shake, where still they dwell enshrined; | 12 | ·/˘/˘·····˘/ |
| Old Saints, by long dead, shrivelled hands, long since designed: | 12 | ·····/˘···˘/ |
| There still, although the world autumnal be, and pale, | 12 | ······˘/˘··· |
| Still in their golden vesture the old saints prevail; | 12 | ···/˘/˘···˘/ |
| Alone with Christ, desolate else, left by mankind. | 12 | ˘/··/˘˘···// |
| Only one ancient Priest offers the Sacrifice, | 12 | /˘·/˘·/˘·/˘· |
| Murmuring holy Latin immemorial: | 12 | /˘˘/˘/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Swaying with tremulous hands the old censer full of spice, | 13 | /˘·/˘···/˘··· |
| In gray, sweet incense clouds; blue, sweet clouds mystical: | 12 | ···/·····/˘˘ |
| To him, in place of men, for he is old, suffice | 12 | ··········˘/ |
| Melancholy remembrances and vesperal. | 12 | /˘·˘˘/˘˘·/˘˘ |
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.