Jacques Tahureau: Shadows of His Lady
WITHIN the sand of what far river liesThe gold that gleams in tresses of my Love?What highest circle of the Heavens aboveIs jewelled with such stars as are her eyes?And where is the rich sea whose coral viesWith her red lips, that cannot kiss enough?What dawn-lit garden knew the rose, whereofThe fled soul lives in her cheeks’ rosy guise?
What Parian marble that is loveliest,Can match the whiteness of her brow and breast?When drew she breath from the Sabæan glade?Oh happy rock and river, sky and sea,Gardens, and glades Sabæan, all that beThe far-off splendid semblance of my maid!
Words in this poem
- whereof adv.
- Of which; of whom; formerly, also, with which; -- used relatively.
- glade n.
- An open passage through a wood; a grassy open or cleared space in a forest. [Prob. of Scand. origin, and akin to glad, a.; cf. also W. golead, goleuad, a lighting, illumination, fr. goleu light, clear, bright, goleu fwlch glade, lit., a ]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Jacques Tahureau: Shadows of His Lady is in the public domain. This text is taken from Ballads and Lyrics of Old France, with Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #795, the Andrew Lang translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Various, Jacques Tahureau: Shadows of His Lady, in Ballads and Lyrics of Old France (1872), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #795, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lang-old-france/shadows-of-his-lady.html, id L26904.
Form and metre
Jacques Tahureau: Shadows of His Lady is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in iambic 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 ABBAA-BA liesA · loveB · aboveB · eyesA · viesA · enough · whereofB · guiseA
- 2 AABCCB loveliestA · breastA · gladeB · seaC · beC · maidB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| WITHIN the sand of what far river lies | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The gold that gleams in tresses of my Love? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| What highest circle of the Heavens above | 11 | ·/˘/˘··/˘·· |
| Is jewelled with such stars as are her eyes? | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And where is the rich sea whose coral vies | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| With her red lips, that cannot kiss enough? | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| What dawn-lit garden knew the rose, whereof | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The fled soul lives in her cheeks’ rosy guise? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| What Parian marble that is loveliest, | 11 | ·/˘˘/˘····· |
| Can match the whiteness of her brow and breast? | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| When drew she breath from the Sabæan glade? | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Oh happy rock and river, sky and sea, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Gardens, and glades Sabæan, all that be | 9 | /˘··/˘··· |
| The far-off splendid semblance of my maid! | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
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.