A Birthday Song. to S. G

Sidney Lanier (1842–1881) · 1884

iambic pentameter · heroic couplets · 33 lines · from Poems

For ever wave, for ever float and shineBefore my yearning eyes, oh! dream of mineWherein I dreamed that time was like a vine,

A creeping rose, that clomb a height of dreadOut of the sea of Birth, all filled with dead,Up to the brilliant cloud of Death o'erhead.

This vine bore many blossoms, which were years.Their petals, red with joy, or bleached by tears,Waved to and fro i' the winds of hopes and fears.

Here all men clung, each hanging by his spray.Anon, one dropped; his neighbor 'gan to pray;And so they clung and dropped and prayed, alway.

But I did mark one lately-opened bloom,Wherefrom arose a visible perfumeThat wrapped me in a cloud of dainty gloom.

And rose -- an odor by a spirit haunted --And drew me upward with a speed enchanted,Swift floating, by wild sea or sky undaunted,

Straight through the cloud of death, where men are free.I gained a height, and stayed and bent my knee.Then glowed my cloud, and broke and unveiled thee.

"O flower-born and flower-souled!" I said,"Be the year-bloom that breathed thee ever red,Nor wither, yellow, down among the dead.

"May all that cling to sprays of time, like me,Be sweetly wafted over sky and seaBy rose-breaths shrining maidens like to thee!"

Then while we sat upon the height afarCame twilight, like a lover late from war,With soft winds fluting to his evening star.

And the shy stars grew bold and scattered gold,And chanting voices ancient secrets told,And an acclaim of angels earthward rolled.

Words in this poem

bleached a.: Whitened; make white.
clung a.: Wasted away; shrunken. [Prop. p. p. fr. OE. clingen to wither. See Cling, v. i.]
anon adv.: Straightway; at once. [OE. anoon, anon, anan, lit., in one (moment), fr. AS. on in + an one. See On and One.]
dainty n.: Value; estimation; the gratification or pleasure taken in anything. [OE. deinie, dainte, deintie, deyntee, OF. deintié delicacy, orig., dignity, honor, fr. L. dignitas, fr. dignus worthy. See Deign, and cf. Dignity.]
haunted a.: Inhabited by, or subject to the visits of, apparitions; frequented by a ghost.
enchanted a.: Under the power of enchantment; possessed or exercised by enchanters; as, an enchanted castle.
undaunted a.: Not daunted; not subdued or depressed by fear.
stayed a.: Staid; fixed; settled; sober; -- now written staid. See Staid.
broke v. i.: To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
afar adv.: At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
acclaim v. i.: To shout applause.
earthward adv.: Toward the earth; -- opposed to heavenward or skyward.

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

A Birthday Song. to S. G is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Sidney Lanier, Project Gutenberg ebook #579; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.

Cite as: Sidney Lanier, A Birthday Song. to S. G, in Poems (1884), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #579, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lanier-poems/a-birthday-song-to-s-g.html, id L07686.

Form and metre

A Birthday Song. to S. G is 33 lines in 11 stanzas of 3 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 55% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 18% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.

See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AAA shine^A · mine^A · vine^A
2 AAA dread^A · dead^A · o'erhead^A
3 AAA years^A · tears^A · fears^A
4 AA- spray^A · pray^A · alway
5 AAA bloom^A · perfume^A · gloom^A
6 A-A haunted^A · enchanted · undaunted^A
7 AAA free^A · knee^A · thee^A
8 AAA said^A · red^A · dead^A
9 AAA me^A · sea^A · thee^A
10 A-A afar^A · war · star^A
11 AAA gold^A · told^A · rolled^A

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
For ever wave, for ever float and shine	10	·/˘··/˘···
Before my yearning eyes, oh! dream of mine	10	···/˘·····
Wherein I dreamed that time was like a vine,	10	··········
A creeping rose, that clomb a height of dread	10	·/˘·······
Out of the sea of Birth, all filled with dead,	10	··········
Up to the brilliant cloud of Death o'erhead.	10	···/˘·····
This vine bore many blossoms, which were years.	10	···/˘/˘···
Their petals, red with joy, or bleached by tears,	10	·/˘·······
Waved to and fro i' the winds of hopes and fears.	11	···········
Here all men clung, each hanging by his spray.	10	·····/˘···
Anon, one dropped; his neighbor 'gan to pray;	10	˘/···/˘···
And so they clung and dropped and prayed, alway.	10	········/˘
But I did mark one lately-opened bloom,	10	·····/˘/˘·
Wherefrom arose a visible perfume	10	···˘/·/˘˘/
That wrapped me in a cloud of dainty gloom.	10	·······/˘·
And rose -- an odor by a spirit haunted --	11	···/˘··/˘/˘
And drew me upward with a speed enchanted,	11	···/˘···˘/˘
Swift floating, by wild sea or sky undaunted,	11	·/˘·····˘/˘
Straight through the cloud of death, where men are free.	10	··········
I gained a height, and stayed and bent my knee.	10	··········
Then glowed my cloud, and broke and unveiled thee.	10	·······˘/·
"O flower-born and flower-souled!" I said,	10	·/˘··/˘···
"Be the year-bloom that breathed thee ever red,	10	·······/˘·
Nor wither, yellow, down among the dead.	10	·/˘/˘·····
"May all that cling to sprays of time, like me,	10	··········
Be sweetly wafted over sky and sea	10	·/˘/˘·····
By rose-breaths shrining maidens like to thee!"	10	···/˘/˘···
Then while we sat upon the height afar	10	········˘/
Came twilight, like a lover late from war,	10	·/···/˘···
With soft winds fluting to his evening star.	10	···/˘··/˘·
And the shy stars grew bold and scattered gold,	10	·······/˘·
And chanting voices ancient secrets told,	10	·/˘/˘/˘/˘·
And an acclaim of angels earthward rolled.	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.

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