Storm
Serene was morning with clear, winnowed air,But threatening soon the low, blue mass of cloudRose in the west, with mutterings faint and rareAt first, but waxing frequent and more loud.Thick sultry mists the distant hill-tops shroud;The sunshine dies; athwart black skies of leadFlash noiselessly thin threads of lightning red.
Breathless the earth seems waiting some wild blow,Dreaded, but far too close to ward or shun.Scared birds aloft fly aimless, and belowNaught stirs in fields whence light and life are gone,Save floating leaves, with wisps of straw and down,Upon the heavy air; 'neath blue-black skies,Livid and yellow the green landscape lies.
And all the while the dreadful thunder breaks,Within the hollow circle of the hills,With gathering might, that angry echoes wakes,And earth and heaven with unused clamor fills.O'erhead still flame those strange electric thrills.A moment more,--behold! yon bolt struck home,And over ruined fields the storm hath come!
Words in this poem
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- breathless a.
- Spent with labor or violent action; out of breath.
- aimless a.
- Without aim or purpose; as, an aimless life.
- dreadful a.
- Full of dread or terror; fearful.
- angry a.
- Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Storm 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, Storm, in Poems, Volume I (1867–1887), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3295, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lazarus-poems/storm.html, id L01867.
Form and metre
Storm is 21 lines in 3 stanzas of 7 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABBCC, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas; the stanza is the Rhyme royal. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 19% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyme royal, 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 ABABBCC airA · cloudB · rareA · loudB · shroudB · leadC · redC
- 2 A-A--BB blowA · shun · belowA · gone · down · skiesB · liesB
- 3 ABABBCC breaksA · hillsB · wakesA · fillsB · thrillsB · homeC · comeC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Serene was morning with clear, winnowed air, | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/·· |
| But threatening soon the low, blue mass of cloud | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Rose in the west, with mutterings faint and rare | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| At first, but waxing frequent and more loud. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Thick sultry mists the distant hill-tops shroud; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| The sunshine dies; athwart black skies of lead | 10 | ·/··˘/···· |
| Flash noiselessly thin threads of lightning red. | 11 | ········/˘· |
| Breathless the earth seems waiting some wild blow, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Dreaded, but far too close to ward or shun. | 10 | /˘········ |
| Scared birds aloft fly aimless, and below | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Naught stirs in fields whence light and life are gone, | 10 | ·········· |
| Save floating leaves, with wisps of straw and down, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Upon the heavy air; 'neath blue-black skies, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Livid and yellow the green landscape lies. | 10 | /˘·/˘··/·· |
| And all the while the dreadful thunder breaks, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Within the hollow circle of the hills, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| With gathering might, that angry echoes wakes, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| And earth and heaven with unused clamor fills. | 10 | ···/·˘//˘· |
| O'erhead still flame those strange electric thrills. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| A moment more,--behold! yon bolt struck home, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| And over ruined fields the storm hath come! | 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.