Stella in Mourning
When lately Stella's form display'dThe beauties of the gay brocade,The nymphs, who found their pow'r decline,Proclaim'd her not so fair as fine."Fate! snatch away the bright disguise,And let the goddess trust her eyes."Thus blindly pray'd the fretful fair,And fate malicious heard the pray'r;But, brighten'd by the sable dress,As virtue rises in distress,Since Stella still extends her reign,Ah! how shall envy sooth her pain?Th' adoring youth and envious fair,Henceforth, shall form one common prayer:And love and hate, alike, imploreThe skies--"That Stella mourn no more."
Words in this poem
- brocade n.
- Silk stuff, woven with gold and silver threads, or ornamented with raised flowers, foliage, etc.; -- also applied to other stuffs thus wrought and enriched. [Sp. brocado (cf. It. broccato, F. brocart), fr. LL. brocare *prick, to figure (textile fabrics), to emboss (linen), to stitch. See Broach.]
- blindly adv.
- Without sight, discernment, or understanding; without thought, investigation, knowledge, or purpose of one's own.
- sable n.
- A carnivorous animal of the Weasel family (Mustela zibellina) native of the northern latitudes of Europe, Asia, and America, -- noted for its fine, soft, and valuable fur. [OF. sable, F. zibeline sable (in sense 4), LL. sabellum; cf. D. sabel, Dan. sabel, zobel, Sw. sabel, sobel, G. zobel; all fr. Russ. sóbole.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- sooth a.
- True; faithful; trustworthy. [OE. soth, AS. s, for san; akin to OS. s, OHG. sand, Icel. sannr, Sw. sann, Dan. sand, Skr. sat, sant, real, genuine, present, being; properly p. pr. from a root]
- envious a.
- Malignant; mischievous; spiteful. [OF. envios, F. envieux, fr. L. invidiosus, fr. invidia envy. See Envy, and cf. Invidious.]
- henceforth adv.
- From this time forward; henceforward.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Stella in Mourning is in the public domain. This text is taken from Dr. Johnson's Works: Life, Poems, and Tales, Volume 1 (The Works of Samuel Johnson in Nine Volumes, 1825), Project Gutenberg ebook #10835; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Samuel Johnson, Stella in Mourning, in Poems (1825), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10835, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-poems/stella-in-mourning.html, id L27144.
Form and metre
Stella in Mourning is 16 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 88% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AABBCCD-EEFFDDGG display'dA · brocadeA · declineB · fineB · disguiseC · eyesC · fairD · pray'r · dressE · distressE · reignF · painF · fairD · prayerD · imploreG · moreG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When lately Stella's form display'd | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| The beauties of the gay brocade, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The nymphs, who found their pow'r decline, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Proclaim'd her not so fair as fine. | 8 | ˘/······ |
| "Fate! snatch away the bright disguise, | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| And let the goddess trust her eyes." | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Thus blindly pray'd the fretful fair, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And fate malicious heard the pray'r; | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| But, brighten'd by the sable dress, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| As virtue rises in distress, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Since Stella still extends her reign, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Ah! how shall envy sooth her pain? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Th' adoring youth and envious fair, | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| Henceforth, shall form one common prayer: | 8 | //···/˘· |
| And love and hate, alike, implore | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| The skies--"That Stella mourn no more." | 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.