The Moon-Path
The full, clear moon uprose and spreadHer cold, pale splendor o'er the sea;A light-strewn path that seemed to leadOutward into eternity.Between the darkness and the gleamAn old-world spell encompassed me:Methought that in a godlike dreamI trod upon the sea.
And lo! upon that glimmering road,In shining companies unfurled,The trains of many a primal god,The monsters of the elder world;Strange creatures that, with silver wings,Scarce touched the ocean's thronging floor,The phantoms of old tales, and thingsWhose shapes are known no more.
Giants and demi-gods who onceWere dwellers of the earth and sea,And they who from Deucalion's stones,Rose men without an infancy;Beings on whose majestic lidsTime's solemn secrets seemed to dwell,Tritons and pale-limbed Nereids,And forms of heaven and hell.
Some who were heroes long of yore,When the great world was hale and young;And some whose marble lips yet pourThe murmur of an antique tongue;Sad queens, whose names are like soft moans,Whose griefs were written up in gold;And some who on their silver thronesWere goddesses of old.
As if I had been dead indeed,And come into some after-land,I saw them pass me, and take heed,And touch me with each mighty hand;And evermore a murmurous stream,So beautiful they seemed to me,Not less than in a godlike dreamI trod the shining sea.
Words in this poem
- primal a.
- First; primary; original; chief. [LL. primalis, fr. L. primus the first. See Prime, a.]
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- 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]
- yore adv.
- In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
- evermore adv.
- During eternity; always; forever; for an indefinite period; at all times; -- often used substantively with for.
- murmurous a.
- Attended with murmurs; exciting murmurs or complaint; murmuring. [Cf. L. murmuriosus, OF. murmuros.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Moon-Path is in the public domain. This text is taken from Lyrics of Earth, Project Gutenberg ebook #12664; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Archibald Lampman, The Moon-Path, in Lyrics of Earth (1895), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12664, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lampman-lyrics/the-moon-path.html, id L11103.
Form and metre
The Moon-Path is 40 lines in 5 stanzas of 8 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, in 2 of the 5 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 ABA-CBCB spreadA · seaB · leadA · eternity · gleamC · meB · dreamC · seaB
- 2 -A-ABCBC road · unfurledA · god · worldA · wingsB · floorC · thingsB · moreC
- 3 ----ABAB once · sea · stones · infancy · lidsA · dwellB · nereidsA · hellB
- 4 ABABCDCD yoreA · youngB · pourA · tongueB · moansC · goldD · thronesC · oldD
- 5 ABABCDCD indeedA · landB · heedA · handB · streamC · meD · dreamC · seaD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The full, clear moon uprose and spread | 8 | ········ |
| Her cold, pale splendor o'er the sea; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A light-strewn path that seemed to lead | 8 | ········ |
| Outward into eternity. | 8 | /˘··˘/˘˘ |
| Between the darkness and the gleam | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| An old-world spell encompassed me: | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Methought that in a godlike dream | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| I trod upon the sea. | 6 | ······ |
| And lo! upon that glimmering road, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In shining companies unfurled, | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| The trains of many a primal god, | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| The monsters of the elder world; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Strange creatures that, with silver wings, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Scarce touched the ocean's thronging floor, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The phantoms of old tales, and things | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Whose shapes are known no more. | 6 | ······ |
| Giants and demi-gods who once | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Were dwellers of the earth and sea, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And they who from Deucalion's stones, | 8 | ········ |
| Rose men without an infancy; | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Beings on whose majestic lids | 8 | /˘··˘/˘· |
| Time's solemn secrets seemed to dwell, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Tritons and pale-limbed Nereids, | 8 | /˘···˘·· |
| And forms of heaven and hell. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Some who were heroes long of yore, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| When the great world was hale and young; | 8 | ········ |
| And some whose marble lips yet pour | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The murmur of an antique tongue; | 8 | ·/˘··˘/· |
| Sad queens, whose names are like soft moans, | 8 | ········ |
| Whose griefs were written up in gold; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And some who on their silver thrones | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Were goddesses of old. | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| As if I had been dead indeed, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And come into some after-land, | 8 | ········ |
| I saw them pass me, and take heed, | 8 | ········ |
| And touch me with each mighty hand; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And evermore a murmurous stream, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘˘· |
| So beautiful they seemed to me, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Not less than in a godlike dream | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I trod the shining sea. | 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.