Evening
Rest, beauty, stillness: not a waif of a cloudFrom gray-blue east sheer to the yellow west--No film of mist the utmost slopes to shroud.
The earth lies grace, by quiet airs caressed,And shepherdeth her shadows, but each stream,Free to the sky, is by that glow possessed,And traileth with the splendors of a dreamAthwart the dusky land. Uplift thine eyes!Unbroken by a vapor or a gleam,
The vast clear reach of mild, wan twilight skies.But look again, and lo, the evening star!Against the pale tints black the slim elms rise,
The earth exhales sweet odors nigh and far,And from the heavens fine influences fall.Familiar things stand not for what they are:
What they suggest, foreshadow, or recallThe spirit is alert to apprehend,Imparting somewhat of herself to all.
Labor and thought and care are at an end:The soul is filled with gracious reveries,And with her mood soft sounds and colors blend;
For simplest sounds ring forth like melodiesIn this weird-lighted air--the monotoneOf some far bell, the distant farmyard cries,
A barking dog, the thin, persistent droneOf crickets, and the lessening call of birds.The apparition of yon star alone
Breaks on the sense like music. Beyond wordThe peace that floods the soul, for night is here,And Beauty still is guide and harbinger.
Words in this poem
- stillness n.
- The quality or state of being still; quietness; silence; calmness; inactivity.
- uplift v. t.
- To lift or raise aloft; to raise; to elevate; as, to uplift the arm; to uplift a rock.
- foreshadow v. t.
- To shadow or typi
- monotone n.
- A single unvaried tone or sound. [See Monotonous, Monotony.]
- farmyard n.
- The yard or inclosure attached to a barn, or the space inclosed by the farm buildings.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Evening is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Emma Lazarus, Volume 1, Project Gutenberg ebook #3295; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Emma Lazarus, Evening, in Poems, Volume I (1867–1887), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3295, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lazarus-poems/evening.html, id L01888.
Form and metre
Evening is 30 lines in 9 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 27% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABA cloudA · westB · shroudA
- 2 BCBCDC caressedB · streamC · possessedB · dreamC · eyesD · gleamC
- 3 DED skiesD · starE · riseD
- 4 EFE farE · fallF · areE
- 5 FGF recallF · apprehendG · allF
- 6 G-G endG · reveries · blendG
- 7 -H- melodies · monotoneH · cries
- 8 H-H droneH · birds · aloneH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Rest, beauty, stillness: not a waif of a cloud | 11 | ·/˘/˘······ |
| From gray-blue east sheer to the yellow west-- | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| No film of mist the utmost slopes to shroud. | 10 | ·····/···· |
| The earth lies grace, by quiet airs caressed, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| And shepherdeth her shadows, but each stream, | 10 | ·/˘˘·/···· |
| Free to the sky, is by that glow possessed, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And traileth with the splendors of a dream | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Athwart the dusky land. Uplift thine eyes! | 10 | ˘/·/˘·/˘·· |
| Unbroken by a vapor or a gleam, | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| The vast clear reach of mild, wan twilight skies. | 10 | ·······/·· |
| But look again, and lo, the evening star! | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Against the pale tints black the slim elms rise, | 10 | ·········· |
| The earth exhales sweet odors nigh and far, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| And from the heavens fine influences fall. | 10 | ···/˘·/·˘· |
| Familiar things stand not for what they are: | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| What they suggest, foreshadow, or recall | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| The spirit is alert to apprehend, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/··˘/ |
| Imparting somewhat of herself to all. | 10 | ˘/˘//·˘/·· |
| Labor and thought and care are at an end: | 10 | /˘········ |
| The soul is filled with gracious reveries, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| And with her mood soft sounds and colors blend; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| For simplest sounds ring forth like melodies | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| In this weird-lighted air--the monotone | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Of some far bell, the distant farmyard cries, | 10 | ·····/˘/·· |
| A barking dog, the thin, persistent drone | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Of crickets, and the lessening call of birds. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| The apparition of yon star alone | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| Breaks on the sense like music. Beyond word | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The peace that floods the soul, for night is here, | 10 | ·········· |
| And Beauty still is guide and harbinger. | 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.