To the Earl Russell I
Deep music of the ancient forest!Through glades and coverts with thy magic winding;And in the silence of our hushed hearts findingTremulous echoes of thy murmur,Unshapen thoughts thronging and throbbing:O music of the mystery, that embracesAll forest depths, and footless far-off places!Thou art the most high voice of nature,Thou art the voice of unseen singers,Vanishing ever deeper through the clingingThickets, and under druid branches wingingA flight, that draws our eyes to follow:Yet, following, find they only forest;But lonely forest, stately melancholy,A consecrated stillness, old and holy;Commanding us to hail with homagePowers, that we see not, hid in beauty:A majesty immeasurable; a gloriousConclave of angels: wherewithal victorious,The Lord of venerable forests,Murmuring sanctuaries and cloisters,Proclaims his kingdom over our emotion:Even as his brother Lord of the old oceanThunders tremendous laws, in tempestEmbattled between winds and waters.O mighty friendship of mysterious forces,O servants of one Will! Stars in their courses,Flowers in their fragrance, in their musicWinged winds, and lightnings in their fierceness!These are the world's magnalities and splendours:At touch of these, the adoring spirit rendersGlory, and praise, and passionate silence.
Words in this poem
- unshapen a.
- Not shaped; shapeless; misshapen; deformed; ugly. [Pref. un- not + shaped, shapen.]
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- druid n.
- One of an order of priests which in ancient times existed among certain branches of the Celtic race, especially among the Gauls and Britons. [L. Druides; of Celtic origin; cf. Ir. & Gael. draoi, druidh, magician, Druid, W. derwydd Druid.]
- stillness n.
- The quality or state of being still; quietness; silence; calmness; inactivity.
- 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.]
- conclave n.
- The set of apartments within which the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church are continuously secluded while engaged in choosing a pope. [F., fr. L. conclave a room that may locked up; con- + clavis key. See Clavicle.]
- tremendous a.
- Fitted to excite fear or terror; such as may astonish or terrify by its magnitude, force, or violence; terrible; dreadful; as, a tremendous wind; a tremendous shower; a tremendous shock or fall. [L. tremendus that is to be trembled at, fearful, fr. tremere to tremble. See Tremble.]
- embattled a.
- Having indentations like a battlement.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To the Earl Russell I 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, To the Earl Russell I, in Poems (1895), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66520, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-lionel-poems/to-the-earl-russell-i.html, id L12502.
Form and metre
To the Earl Russell I is 32 lines in a single stanza. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%). 83% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 30 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 31% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic pentameter.
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 -AA------BB------CC--DD------EE- forest · windingA · findingA · murmur · throbbing · embraces · places · nature · singers · clingingB · wingingB · follow · forest · melancholy · holy · homage · beauty · gloriousC · victoriousC · forests · cloisters · emotionD · oceanD · tempest · waters · forces · courses · music · fierceness · splendoursE · rendersE · silence
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Deep music of the ancient forest! | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Through glades and coverts with thy magic winding; | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| And in the silence of our hushed hearts finding | 11 | ···/˘·/··/˘ |
| Tremulous echoes of thy murmur, | 9 | /˘˘/˘··/˘ |
| Unshapen thoughts thronging and throbbing: | 9 | ····/˘·/˘ |
| O music of the mystery, that embraces | 11 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/˘ |
| All forest depths, and footless far-off places! | 11 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| Thou art the most high voice of nature, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Thou art the voice of unseen singers, | 9 | ·····˘//˘ |
| Vanishing ever deeper through the clinging | 9 | /˘//˘··/˘ |
| Thickets, and under druid branches winging | 11 | /˘···/˘/˘/˘ |
| A flight, that draws our eyes to follow: | 9 | ····/··/˘ |
| Yet, following, find they only forest; | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| But lonely forest, stately melancholy, | 11 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘·˘ |
| A consecrated stillness, old and holy; | 11 | ·/˘·˘/˘··/˘ |
| Commanding us to hail with homage | 9 | ˘/˘····/˘ |
| Powers, that we see not, hid in beauty: | 9 | /······/˘ |
| A majesty immeasurable; a glorious | 11 | ·/˘˘/˘·˘·/˘ |
| Conclave of angels: wherewithal victorious, | 11 | /··/˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| The Lord of venerable forests, | 9 | ···/˘˘˘/˘ |
| Murmuring sanctuaries and cloisters, | 9 | /˘/˘·˘·/˘ |
| Proclaims his kingdom over our emotion: | 10 | ˘/·/˘·//˘˘ |
| Even as his brother Lord of the old ocean | 10 | /··/˘····/ |
| Thunders tremendous laws, in tempest | 9 | /˘˘/˘··/˘ |
| Embattled between winds and waters. | 9 | ˘/˘····/˘ |
| O mighty friendship of mysterious forces, | 11 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| O servants of one Will! Stars in their courses, | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| Flowers in their fragrance, in their music | 9 | /··/˘··/˘ |
| Winged winds, and lightnings in their fierceness! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| These are the world's magnalities and splendours: | 10 | ········/˘ |
| At touch of these, the adoring spirit renders | 11 | ·····˘/˘//˘ |
| Glory, and praise, and passionate silence. | 9 | /˘···/˘/˘ |
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