Finale
"Nunc plaudite!" the Student cried,When he had finished; "now applaud,As Roman actors used to sayAt the conclusion of a play";And rose, and spread his hands abroad,And smiling bowed from side to side,As one who bears the palm away.And generous was the applause and loud,But less for him than for the sun,That even as the tale was doneBurst from its canopy of cloud,And lit the landscape with the blazeOf afternoon on autumn days,And filled the room with light, and madeThe fire of logs a painted shade.
A sudden wind from out the westBlew all its trumpets loud and shrill;The windows rattled with the blast,The oak-trees shouted as it passed,And straight, as if by fear possessed,The cloud encampment on the hillBroke up, and fluttering flag and tentVanished into the firmament,And down the valley fled amainThe rear of the retreating rain.
Only far up in the blue skyA mass of clouds, like drifted snowSuffused with a faint Alpine glow,Was heaped together, vast and high,On which a shattered rainbow hung,Not rising like the ruined archOf some aerial aqueduct,But like a roseate garland pluckedFrom an Olympian god, and flungAside in his triumphal march.
Like prisoners from their dungeon gloom,Like birds escaping from a snare,Like school-boys at the hour of play,All left at once the pent-up room,And rushed into the open air;And no more tales were told that day.
Words in this poem
- generous a.
- Of honorable birth or origin; highborn. [F. généreux, fr. L. generous of noble birth, noble, excellent, magnanimous, fr. genus birth, race: cf. It. generoso. See 2d Gender.]
- afternoon n.
- The part of the day which follows noon, between noon and evening.
- trumpets n.
- A plant (Sarracenia flava) with long, hollow leaves.
- encampment n.
- The act of pitching tents or forming huts, as by an army or traveling company, for temporary lodging or rest.
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- firmament n.
- Fixed foundation; established basis. [L. firmamentum, fr. firmare to make firm: cf. F. firmament. See Firm, v. & a.]
- amain adv.
- With might; with full force; vigorously; violently; exceedingly. [Pref. a- + main. See 2d Main, n.]
- aqueduct n.
- A conductor, conduit, or artificial channel for conveying water, especially one for supplying large cities with water. [F. aqueduc, OF. aqueduct (Cotgr.), fr. L. aquaeductus; aquae, gen. of aqua water + ductus a leading, ducere to lead. See Aqua, Duke.]
- roseate a.
- Full of roses; rosy; as, roseate bowers. [Cf. L. roseus, rosatus, prepared from roses. See Roseal, Rose.]
- triumphal n.
- A token of victory.
- dungeon n.
- A close, dark prison, commondonjon or keep of a castle, these being used as prisons. [OE. donjoun highest tower of a castle, tower, prison, F. donjon tower or platform in the midst of a castle, turret, or closet on the top of a house, a keep of a]
- pent p. p.
- Penned or shut up; confined; -- often with up. [From Pen, v. t.]
- rushed a.
- Abounding or covered with rushes.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Finale is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Project Gutenberg ebook #1365; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Finale, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/finale-2.html, id L17688.
Form and metre
Finale is 41 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 87% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.5 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 32% 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 ABCCBACDEEDFFGG criedA · applaudB · sayC · playC · abroadB · sideA · awayC · loudD · sunE · doneE · cloudD · blazeF · daysF · madeG · shadeG
- 2 ABCCABDDEE westA · shrillB · blastC · passedC · possessedA · hillB · tentD · firmamentD · amainE · rainE
- 3 ABBACDEECD skyA · snowB · glowB · highA · hungC · archD · aqueductE · pluckedE · flungC · marchD
- 4 ABCABC gloomA · snareB · playC · roomA · airB · dayC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| "Nunc plaudite!" the Student cried, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| When he had finished; "now applaud, | 9 | ···/˘˘·˘/ |
| As Roman actors used to say | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| At the conclusion of a play"; | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| And rose, and spread his hands abroad, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And smiling bowed from side to side, | 9 | ·/˘·˘···· |
| As one who bears the palm away. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And generous was the applause and loud, | 10 | ·/˘˘··˘/·· |
| But less for him than for the sun, | 8 | ········ |
| That even as the tale was done | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Burst from its canopy of cloud, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| And lit the landscape with the blaze | 8 | ···/···· |
| Of afternoon on autumn days, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| And filled the room with light, and made | 9 | ··˘······ |
| The fire of logs a painted shade. | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| A sudden wind from out the west | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Blew all its trumpets loud and shrill; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The windows rattled with the blast, | 9 | ·/˘/˘˘··· |
| The oak-trees shouted as it passed, | 9 | ···/˘···˘ |
| And straight, as if by fear possessed, | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| The cloud encampment on the hill | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Broke up, and fluttering flag and tent | 9 | ···/˘˘··· |
| Vanished into the firmament, | 9 | /˘˘···/˘˘ |
| And down the valley fled amain | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The rear of the retreating rain. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Only far up in the blue sky | 8 | /˘······ |
| A mass of clouds, like drifted snow | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Suffused with a faint Alpine glow, | 9 | ˘/˘···/·· |
| Was heaped together, vast and high, | 9 | ··˘˘/˘··· |
| On which a shattered rainbow hung, | 9 | ···/˘˘/·· |
| Not rising like the ruined arch | 9 | ·/˘··/˘˘· |
| Of some aerial aqueduct, | 8 | ··/˘˘/˘· |
| But like a roseate garland plucked | 10 | ···/˘˘/˘·˘ |
| From an Olympian god, and flung | 9 | ··˘/˘˘··· |
| Aside in his triumphal march. | 8 | ˘/··˘/˘· |
| Like prisoners from their dungeon gloom, | 9 | ·/˘˘··/˘· |
| Like birds escaping from a snare, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Like school-boys at the hour of play, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| All left at once the pent-up room, | 8 | ········ |
| And rushed into the open air; | 9 | ··˘···/˘· |
| And no more tales were told that day. | 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.