On Whit-Monday
Hark! how the merry bells ring jocund round,And now they die upon the veering breezeAnon they thunder loudFull on the musing ear.
Wafted in varying cadence, by the shoreOf the still twinkling river, they bespeakA day of jubilee,An ancient holiday.
And lo! the rural revels are begun,And gaily echoing to the laughing sky,On the smooth shaven greenResounds the voice of Mirth.
Alas! regardless of the tongue of Fate,That tells them 'tis but as an hour since theyWho now are in their gravesKept up the Whitsun dance.
And that another hour, and they must fallLike those who went before, and sleep as stillBeneath the silent sod,A cold and cheerless sleep.
Yet why should thoughts like these intrude to scareThe vagrant Happiness, when she will deignTo smile upon us here,A transient visitor?
Mortals! be gladsome while ye have the power,And laugh and seize the glittering lapse of joy;In time the bell will tollThat warns ye to your graves.
I to the woodland solitude will bendMy lonesome way--where Mirth's obstreperous shoutShall not intrude to breakThe meditative hour.
There will I ponder on the state of man,Joyless and sad of heart, and consecrateThis day of jubileeTo sad reflection's shrine;
And I will cast my fond eye far beyondThis world of care, to where the steeple loudShall rock above the sod,Where I shall sleep in peace.
Words in this poem
- jocund
- Merry; cheerful; gay; airy; lively; sportive. [L. jocundus, jucundus, orig., helpful, fr. juvare to help. See Aid.]
- anon adv.
- Straightway; at once. [OE. anoon, anon, anan, lit., in one (moment), fr. AS. on in + an one. See On and One.]
- twinkling n.
- The act of one who, or of that which, twinkles; a quick movement of the eye; a wink; a twinkle. Holland.
- bespeak v. t.
- To speak or arrange for beforehand; to order or engage against a future time; as, to bespeak goods, a right, or a favor. [OE. bispeken, AS. besprecan, to speak to, accuse; pref. be- + sprecan to speak. See Speak.]
- gaily adv.
- Merrily; showily. See gaily. [From Gay.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- scare v. t.
- To frighten; to strike with sudden fear; to alarm. [OE. skerren, skeren, Icel. skirra to bar, prevent, skirrask to shun , shrink from; or fr. OE. skerre, adj., scared, Icel. skjarr; both perhaps akin to E. sheer ]
- deign v. t.
- To esteem worthy; to consider worth notice; -- opposed to disdain. [OE. deinen, deignen, OF. degner, deigner, daigner, F. daigner, fr. L. dignari to deem worthy, deign, fr. dignus worthy; akin to decere to be fitting. See Decent]
- gladsome a.
- Pleased; joyful; cheerful.
- lonesome a.
- Secluded from society; not frequented by human beings; solitary.
- obstreperous a.
- Attended by, or making, a loud and tumultuous noise; clamorous; noisy; vociferous. [L. obstreperus, from obstrepere to make a noise at; ob (see Ob-) + strepere to make a noise.]
- 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,]
- joyless a.
- Not having joy; not causing joy; unenjoyable.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On Whit-Monday is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Henry Kirk White : With a Memoir by Sir Harris Nicolas, Project Gutenberg ebook #7149; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Kirke White, On Whit-Monday, in The Poetical Works of Henry Kirke White (1803–1806), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7149, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kirke-white-poems/on-whit-monday.html, id L10109.
Form and metre
On Whit-Monday is 40 lines in 10 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 48% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter, other poems in blank verse.
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.
- 6 A-A- scareA · deign · hereA · visitor
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Hark! how the merry bells ring jocund round, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And now they die upon the veering breeze | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Anon they thunder loud | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| Full on the musing ear. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Wafted in varying cadence, by the shore | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| Of the still twinkling river, they bespeak | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| A day of jubilee, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| An ancient holiday. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| And lo! the rural revels are begun, | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| And gaily echoing to the laughing sky, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| On the smooth shaven green | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Resounds the voice of Mirth. | 6 | ·/···· |
| Alas! regardless of the tongue of Fate, | 10 | ˘/˘/˘····· |
| That tells them 'tis but as an hour since they | 10 | ·······/·· |
| Who now are in their graves | 6 | ······ |
| Kept up the Whitsun dance. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And that another hour, and they must fall | 10 | ··˘/˘/···· |
| Like those who went before, and sleep as still | 10 | ·········· |
| Beneath the silent sod, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| A cold and cheerless sleep. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Yet why should thoughts like these intrude to scare | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| The vagrant Happiness, when she will deign | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘···· |
| To smile upon us here, | 6 | ······ |
| A transient visitor? | 6 | ·/˘/˘˘ |
| Mortals! be gladsome while ye have the power, | 11 | /˘·/˘····/˘ |
| And laugh and seize the glittering lapse of joy; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| In time the bell will toll | 6 | ······ |
| That warns ye to your graves. | 6 | ······ |
| I to the woodland solitude will bend | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| My lonesome way--where Mirth's obstreperous shout | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Shall not intrude to break | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| The meditative hour. | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| There will I ponder on the state of man, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Joyless and sad of heart, and consecrate | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| This day of jubilee | 6 | ···/˘· |
| To sad reflection's shrine; | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| And I will cast my fond eye far beyond | 10 | ·········· |
| This world of care, to where the steeple loud | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Shall rock above the sod, | 6 | ······ |
| Where I shall sleep in peace. | 6 | ······ |
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.