The Bee
What time I paced, at pleasant morn,A deep and dewy wood,I heard a mellow hunting-hornMake dim report of Dian's lustihoodFar down a heavenly hollow.Mine ear, though fain, had pain to follow:`Tara!' it twanged, `tara-tara!' it blew,Yet wavered oft, and flewMost ficklewise about, or here, or there,A music now from earth and now from air.But on a sudden, lo!I marked a blossom shiver to and froWith dainty inward storm; and there withinA down-drawn trump of yellow jessamineA beeThrust up its sad-gold body lustily,All in a honey madness hotly boundOn blissful burglary.A cunning soundIn that wing-music held me: down I layIn amber shades of many a golden spray,Where looping low with languid arms the VineIn wreaths of ravishment did overtwineHer kneeling Live-Oak, thousand-fold to plightHerself unto her own true stalwart knight.
As some dim blur of distant music nearsThe long-desiring sense, and slowly clearsTo forms of time and apprehensive tune,So, as I lay, full soonInterpretation throve: the bee's fanfare,Through sequent films of discourse vague as air,Passed to plain words, while, fanning faint perfume,The bee o'erhung a rich, unrifled bloom:"O Earth, fair lordly Blossom, soft a-shineUpon the star-pranked universal vine,Hast nought for me?To theeCome I, a poet, hereward haply blown,From out another worldflower lately flown.Wilt ask, `What profit e'er a poet brings?'He beareth starry stuff about his wingsTo pollen thee and sting thee fertile: nay,If still thou narrow thy contracted way,-- Worldflower, if thou refuse me ---- Worldflower, if thou abuse me,And hoist thy stamen's spear-point highTo wound my wing and mar mine eye --Nathless I'll drive me to thy deepest sweet,Yea, richlier shall that pain the pollen beatFrom me to thee, for oft these pollens beFine dust from wars that poets wage for thee.But, O beloved Earthbloom soft a-shineUpon the universal Jessamine,Prithee, abuse me not,Prithee, refuse me not,Yield, yield the heartsome honey love to meHid in thy nectary!"And as I sank into a dimmer dreamThe pleading bee's song-burthen sole did seem:"Hast ne'er a honey-drop of love for meIn thy huge nectary?"
Words in this poem 24
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- lustihood n.
- State of being lusty; vigor of body. [Lusty + -hood.]
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- 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.]
- lustily adv.
- In a lusty or vigorous manner.
- hotly adv.
- In a hot or fiery manner; ardently; vehemently; violently; hastily; as, a hotly pursued. [From Hot, a.]
- blissful a.
- Full of, characterized by, or causing, joy and felicity; happy in the highest degree.
- burglary n.
- Breaking and entering the dwelling house of another, in the nighttime, with intent to commit a felony therein, whether the felonious purpose be accomplished or not. Wharton. Burrill. [Fr. Burglar; cf. LL. burglaria.]
- looping n.
- The running together of the matter of an ore into a mass, when the ore is only heated for calcination. [Cf. D. loopen to run. Cf. Loop a mass of iron, Leap.]
- ravishment n.
- The act of carrying away by force or against consent; abduction; as, the ravishment of children from their parents, or a ward from his guardian, or of a wife from her husband. Blackstone. [F. ravissement. See Ravish.]
- plight v. t.
- To weave; to braid; to fold; to plait. [OE. pliten; probably through Old French, fr. LL. plectare, L. plectere. See Plait, Ply.]
- stalwart a.
- Brave; bold; strong; redoubted; daring; vehement; violent. [OE. stalworth, AS. stælwyrth serviceable, probably originally, good at stealing, or worth stealing or taking, and afterwards extended to other causes of estimat]
- fanfare n.
- A flourish of trumpets, as in coming into the lists, etc.; also, a short and lively air performed on hunting horns during the chase. [F. Cf. Fanfaron.]
- sequent a.
- Following; succeeding; in continuance. [L. sequens, -entis, p. pr. of sequi to follow. See Sue to follow.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- haply adv.
- By hap, chance, luck, or accident; perhaps; it may be.
- flown a.
- Flushed, inflated.
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- pollen n.
- Fine bran or flour. Bailey.
- nathless adv.
- Nevertheless. Chaucer. Milton. E. Arnold. [OE. natheles, na the les, not the less, AS. na never. See Na, The, conj., and cf. Nevertheless.]
- 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,]
- wage v. i.
- To bind one's self; to engage.
- prithee interj.
- A corruption of pray thee; as, I prithee; generally used without I.
- heartsome a.
- Merry; cheerful; lively.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Bee 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, The Bee, in Poems (1884), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #579, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lanier-poems/the-bee.html, id L07631.
Form and metre
The Bee is 61 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 66% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, 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 8.8 syllables. 9 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 43% 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 ABABCCDDEEFFGG--H-HIIJJKK mornA · woodB · hornA · lustihoodB · hollowC · followC · blewD · flewD · thereE · airE · loF · froF · withinG · jessamineG · bee · lustily · boundH · burglary · soundH · layI · sprayI · vineJ · overtwineJ · plightK · knightK
- 2 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJJJKKJJLL----MM-- nearsA · clearsA · tuneB · soonB · fanfareC · airC · perfumeD · bloomD · shineE · vineE · meF · theeF · blownG · flownG · bringsH · wingsH · nayI · wayI · meJ · meJ · highJ · eyeJ · sweetK · beatK · beJ · theeJ · shineL · jessamineL · not · not · me · nectary · dreamM · seemM · me · nectary
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 |
|---|---|---|
| What time I paced, at pleasant morn, | 9 | ····˘·/˘· |
| A deep and dewy wood, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I heard a mellow hunting-horn | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Make dim report of Dian's lustihood | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/˘˘ |
| Far down a heavenly hollow. | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| Mine ear, though fain, had pain to follow: | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| `Tara!' it twanged, `tara-tara!' it blew, | 10 | /˘··/˘/˘·· |
| Yet wavered oft, and flew | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Most ficklewise about, or here, or there, | 10 | ·········· |
| A music now from earth and now from air. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| But on a sudden, lo! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I marked a blossom shiver to and fro | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| With dainty inward storm; and there within | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| A down-drawn trump of yellow jessamine | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| A bee | 2 | ·· |
| Thrust up its sad-gold body lustily, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| All in a honey madness hotly bound | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| On blissful burglary. | 6 | ·/˘/˘˘ |
| A cunning sound | 4 | ·/˘· |
| In that wing-music held me: down I lay | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| In amber shades of many a golden spray, | 10 | ·/˘··/·/˘· |
| Where looping low with languid arms the Vine | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| In wreaths of ravishment did overtwine | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Her kneeling Live-Oak, thousand-fold to plight | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Herself unto her own true stalwart knight. | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| As some dim blur of distant music nears | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| The long-desiring sense, and slowly clears | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| To forms of time and apprehensive tune, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| So, as I lay, full soon | 6 | ······ |
| Interpretation throve: the bee's fanfare, | 10 | ˘·˘/˘···/· |
| Through sequent films of discourse vague as air, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Passed to plain words, while, fanning faint perfume, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| The bee o'erhung a rich, unrifled bloom: | 10 | ········˘· |
| "O Earth, fair lordly Blossom, soft a-shine | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Upon the star-pranked universal vine, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Hast nought for me? | 4 | ···· |
| To thee | 2 | ·· |
| Come I, a poet, hereward haply blown, | 11 | ···/˘···/˘· |
| From out another worldflower lately flown. | 11 | ··˘/˘···/˘· |
| Wilt ask, `What profit e'er a poet brings?' | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| He beareth starry stuff about his wings | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| To pollen thee and sting thee fertile: nay, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| If still thou narrow thy contracted way, | 10 | ···/˘·/˘˘· |
| -- Worldflower, if thou refuse me -- | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| -- Worldflower, if thou abuse me, | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| And hoist thy stamen's spear-point high | 8 | ········ |
| To wound my wing and mar mine eye -- | 8 | ········ |
| Nathless I'll drive me to thy deepest sweet, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Yea, richlier shall that pain the pollen beat | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| From me to thee, for oft these pollens be | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Fine dust from wars that poets wage for thee. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But, O beloved Earthbloom soft a-shine | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Upon the universal Jessamine, | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Prithee, abuse me not, | 6 | /˘˘/·· |
| Prithee, refuse me not, | 6 | /˘/··· |
| Yield, yield the heartsome honey love to me | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Hid in thy nectary!" | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| And as I sank into a dimmer dream | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The pleading bee's song-burthen sole did seem: | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| "Hast ne'er a honey-drop of love for me | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| In thy huge nectary?" | 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.