Fancies
The ceaseless whirr of crickets fills the earFrom underneath each hedge and bush and tree,Deep in the dew-drenched grasses everywhere.
The simple sound dispels the fantasyOf gloom and terror gathering round the mind.It seems a pleasant thing to breathe, to be,
To hear the many-voiced, soft summer windLisp through the dark thick leafage overhead--To see the rosy half-moon soar behind
The black slim-branching elms. Sad thoughts have fled,Trouble and doubt, and now strange reveriesAnd odd caprices fill us in their stead.
From yonder broken disk the redness dies,Like gold fruit through the leaves the half-sphere gleams,Then over the hoar tree-tops climbs the skies,
Blanched ever more and more, until it beamsWhiter than crystal. Like a scroll unfurled,And shadowy as a landscape seen in dreams,
Reveals itself the sleeping, quiet world,Painted in tender grays and whites subdued--The speckled stream with flakes of light impearled,
The wide, soft meadow and the massive wood.Naught is too wild for our credulityIn this weird hour: our finest dreams hold good.
Quaint elves and frolic flower-sprites we see,And fairies weaving rings of gossamer,And angels floating through the filmy air.
Words in this poem
- ceaseless a.
- Without pause or end; incessant.
- whirr v. i.
- To whirl round, or revolve, with a whizzing noise; to fly or more quickly with a buzzing or whizzing sound; to whiz.
- fantasy n.
- Fancy; imagination; especially, a whimsical or fanciful conception; a vagary of the imagination; whim; caprice; humor. [See Fancy.]
- lisp v. i.
- To pronounce the sibilant letter s imperfectly; to give s and z the sound of th; -- a defect common among children. [OE. lispen, lipsen, AS. wlisp stammering, lisping; akin to D. & OHG. lispen to lisp, G. lispeln, Sw. läspa, Dan. lespe.]
- leafage n.
- Leaves, collectively; foliage.
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- hoar v. t.
- To become moldy or musty. [AS. harian to grow gray.]
- 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 ]
- gossamer n.
- A fine, filmy substance, like cobwebs, floating in the air, in calm, clear weather, especially in autumn. It is seen in stubble fields and on furze or low bushes, and is formed by small spiders. [OE. gossomer, gossummer, gosesomer, perh. for goose summer, from its downy appearance, or perh. for God's summer, cf. G. mariengarr gossamer, properly Mary's ya]
- filmy a.
- Composed of film or films.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Fancies 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, Fancies, in Poems, Volume I (1867–1887), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3295, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lazarus-poems/fancies.html, id L01891.
Form and metre
Fancies is 27 lines in 9 stanzas of 3 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 26% 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- ear · treeA · everywhere
- 2 -BA fantasy · mindB · beA
- 3 BCB windB · overheadC · behindB
- 4 C-C fledC · reveries · steadC
- 5 DED diesD · gleamsE · skiesD
- 6 EFE beamsE · unfurledF · dreamsE
- 7 F-- worldF · subdued · impearled
- 8 G-G woodG · credulity · goodG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The ceaseless whirr of crickets fills the ear | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| From underneath each hedge and bush and tree, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Deep in the dew-drenched grasses everywhere. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| The simple sound dispels the fantasy | 10 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘˘ |
| Of gloom and terror gathering round the mind. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| It seems a pleasant thing to breathe, to be, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| To hear the many-voiced, soft summer wind | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Lisp through the dark thick leafage overhead-- | 10 | ·····/˘/˘/ |
| To see the rosy half-moon soar behind | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The black slim-branching elms. Sad thoughts have fled, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Trouble and doubt, and now strange reveries | 10 | /˘·····/˘˘ |
| And odd caprices fill us in their stead. | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| From yonder broken disk the redness dies, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Like gold fruit through the leaves the half-sphere gleams, | 10 | ·········· |
| Then over the hoar tree-tops climbs the skies, | 10 | ·········· |
| Blanched ever more and more, until it beams | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Whiter than crystal. Like a scroll unfurled, | 10 | /˘·/˘···˘/ |
| And shadowy as a landscape seen in dreams, | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| Reveals itself the sleeping, quiet world, | 10 | ˘/˘/·/˘/˘· |
| Painted in tender grays and whites subdued-- | 10 | /˘·/˘···˘/ |
| The speckled stream with flakes of light impearled, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The wide, soft meadow and the massive wood. | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| Naught is too wild for our credulity | 11 | ·····/˘˘/˘˘ |
| In this weird hour: our finest dreams hold good. | 10 | ···///˘··· |
| Quaint elves and frolic flower-sprites we see, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And fairies weaving rings of gossamer, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| And angels floating through the filmy air. | 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.