Faerie
From the oped lattice glance once more abroadWhile the ethereal moontide bathes with lightHill, stream, and garden, and white-winding road.
All gracious myths born of the shadowy nightRecur, and hover in fantastic guise,Airy and vague, before the drowsy sight.
On yonder soft gray hill Endymion liesIn rosy slumber, and the moonlit airBreathes kisses on his cheeks and lips and eyes.
'Twixt bush and bush gleam flower-white limbs, left bare,Of huntress-nymphs, and flying raiment thin,Vanishing faces, and bright floating hair.
The quaint midsummer fairies and their kin,Gnomes, elves, and trolls, on blossom, branch, and grassGambol and dance, and winding out and in
Leave circles of spun dew where'er they pass.Through the blue ether the freed Ariel flies;Enchantment holds the air; a swarming mass
Of myriad dusky, gold-winged dreams arise,Throng toward the gates of sense, and so possessThe soul, and lull it to forgetfulness.
Words in this poem
- recur v. i.
- To come back; to return again or repeatedly; to come again to mind. [L. recurrere; pref.re- re- + currere to run. See Current.]
- hover n.
- A cover; a shelter; a protection. Carew. C. Kingsley. [Etymol. doubtful.]
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- moonlit a.
- Illumined by the moon.
- quaint a.
- Prudent; wise; hence, crafty; artful; wily. [OE. queint, queynte, coint, prudent, wise, cunning, pretty, odd, OF. cointe cultivated, amiable, agreeable, neat, fr. L. cognitus known, p. p. of cognoscere to ]
- midsummer n.
- The middle of summer. Shak. Midsummer daisy (Bot.), the oxeye daisy. [AS. midsumor.]
- gambol n.
- A skipping or leaping about in frolic; a hop; a sportive prank. [OE. gambolde, gambaulde, F. gambade, gambol, fr. It. gambata kick, fr. L. gamba leg, akin to F. jambe, OF. also, gambe, fr. L. gamba, hoof or perh. joint: cf. G]
- myriad n.
- The number of ten thousand; ten thousand persons or things. [Gr. myriade.]
- lull v. t.
- To cause to rest by soothing influences; to compose; to calm; to soothe; to quiet. [Akin to OD. lullen to sing to sleep, G. lullen, Dan. lulle, Sw. lulla; all of imitative origin. Cf. Loll, Lollard.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Faerie 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, Faerie, in Admetus, and Other Poems (1867–1887), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3295, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lazarus-poems/faerie.html, id L01893.
Form and metre
Faerie is 21 lines in 7 stanzas of 3 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 43% 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 -A- abroad · lightA · road
- 2 ABA nightA · guiseB · sightA
- 3 BCB liesB · airC · eyesB
- 4 CDC bareC · thinD · hairC
- 5 DED kinD · grassE · inD
- 6 EFE passE · fliesF · massE
- 7 F-- ariseF · possess · forgetfulness
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 |
|---|---|---|
| From the oped lattice glance once more abroad | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| While the ethereal moontide bathes with light | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Hill, stream, and garden, and white-winding road. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| All gracious myths born of the shadowy night | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Recur, and hover in fantastic guise, | 10 | ˘/·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Airy and vague, before the drowsy sight. | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| On yonder soft gray hill Endymion lies | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| In rosy slumber, and the moonlit air | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/·· |
| Breathes kisses on his cheeks and lips and eyes. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| 'Twixt bush and bush gleam flower-white limbs, left bare, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Of huntress-nymphs, and flying raiment thin, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Vanishing faces, and bright floating hair. | 10 | /˘˘/˘··/˘· |
| The quaint midsummer fairies and their kin, | 10 | ··//˘/˘··· |
| Gnomes, elves, and trolls, on blossom, branch, and grass | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Gambol and dance, and winding out and in | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Leave circles of spun dew where'er they pass. | 11 | ·/˘···˘˘/·· |
| Through the blue ether the freed Ariel flies; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Enchantment holds the air; a swarming mass | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| Of myriad dusky, gold-winged dreams arise, | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| Throng toward the gates of sense, and so possess | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| The soul, and lull it to forgetfulness. | 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.