Rhymes for Gloriana
This doll upon the topmost bough,This playmate-gift, in Christmas dress,Was taken down and brought to meOne sleety night most comfortless.
Her hair was gold, her dolly-sashWas gray brocade, most good to see.The dear toy laughed, and I forgotThe ill the new year promised me.
Words in this poem
- sleety a.
- Of or pertaining to sleet; characterized by sleet; as, a sleety storm; sleety weather.
- comfortless a.
- Without comfort or comforts; in want or distress; cheerless.
- brocade n.
- Silk stuff, woven with gold and silver threads, or ornamented with raised flowers, foliage, etc.; -- also applied to other stuffs thus wrought and enriched. [Sp. brocado (cf. It. broccato, F. brocart), fr. LL. brocare *prick, to figure (textile fabrics), to emboss (linen), to stitch. See Broach.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Rhymes for Gloriana is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Congo, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #1021; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Vachel Lindsay, Rhymes for Gloriana, in The Congo and Other Poems (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1021, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lindsay-congo/rhymes-for-gloriana.html, id L00975.
Form and metre
Rhymes for Gloriana is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 38% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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-A bough · dressA · me · comfortlessA
- 2 -A-A sash · seeA · forgot · meA
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| This doll upon the topmost bough, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| This playmate-gift, in Christmas dress, | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| Was taken down and brought to me | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| One sleety night most comfortless. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Her hair was gold, her dolly-sash | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Was gray brocade, most good to see. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| The dear toy laughed, and I forgot | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The ill the new year promised me. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
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.