Nilsson
A rose of perfect red, embossedWith silver sheens of crystal frost,Yet warm, nor life nor fragrance lost.
High passion throbbing in a sphereThat Art hath wrought of diamond clear,-- A great heart beating in a tear.
The listening soul is full of dreamsThat shape the wondrous-varying themesAs cries of men or plash of streams.
Or noise of summer rain-drops roundThat patter daintily a-groundWith hints of heaven in the sound.
Or noble wind-tones chanting freeThrough morning-skies across the seaWild hymns to some strange majesty.
O, if one trope, clear-cut and keen,May type the art of Song's best queen,White-hot of soul, white-chaste of mien,
On Music's heart doth Nilsson dwellAs if a Swedish snow-flake fellInto a glowing flower-bell.
Words in this poem
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- patter v. i.
- To strike with a quick succession of slight, sharp sounds; as, pattering rain or hail; pattering feet. [Freq. of pat to strike gently.]
- daintily adv.
- In a dainty manner; nicely; scrupulously; fastidiously; deliciously; prettily.
- 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]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Nilsson 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, Nilsson, in Poems (1884), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #579, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lanier-poems/nilsson.html, id L07684.
Form and metre
Nilsson is 21 lines in 7 stanzas of 3 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 2 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 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 AAA embossedA · frostA · lostA
- 2 AAA sphereA · clearA · tearA
- 3 AAA dreamsA · themesA · streamsA
- 4 AAA roundA · groundA · soundA
- 5 AA- freeA · seaA · majesty
- 6 AAA keenA · queenA · mienA
- 7 AAA dwellA · fellA · bellA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A rose of perfect red, embossed | 9 | ···/··˘/˘ |
| With silver sheens of crystal frost, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Yet warm, nor life nor fragrance lost. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| High passion throbbing in a sphere | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| That Art hath wrought of diamond clear, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| -- A great heart beating in a tear. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The listening soul is full of dreams | 9 | ·/˘˘····· |
| That shape the wondrous-varying themes | 9 | ···/˘/˘˘· |
| As cries of men or plash of streams. | 8 | ········ |
| Or noise of summer rain-drops round | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That patter daintily a-ground | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| With hints of heaven in the sound. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Or noble wind-tones chanting free | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Through morning-skies across the sea | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Wild hymns to some strange majesty. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| O, if one trope, clear-cut and keen, | 8 | ········ |
| May type the art of Song's best queen, | 8 | ········ |
| White-hot of soul, white-chaste of mien, | 8 | ········ |
| On Music's heart doth Nilsson dwell | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| As if a Swedish snow-flake fell | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Into a glowing flower-bell. | 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.