L' Envoi
Ye voices, that aroseAfter the Evening's close,And whispered to my restless heart repose!
Go, breathe it in the earOf all who doubt and fear,And say to them, "Be of good cheer!"
Ye sounds, so low and calm,That in the groves of balmSeemed to me like an angel's psalm!
Go, mingle yet once moreWith the perpetual roarOf the pine forest dark and hoar!
Tongues of the dead, not lostBut speaking from deaths frost,Like fiery tongues at Pentecost!
Glimmer, as funeral lamps,Amid the chills and dampsOf the vast plain where Death encamps!
Words in this poem
- hoar v. t.
- To become moldy or musty. [AS. harian to grow gray.]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
L' Envoi 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, L' Envoi, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/l-envoi.html, id L17494.
Form and metre
L' Envoi is 18 lines in 6 stanzas of 3 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 39% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 AAA aroseA · closeA · reposeA
- 2 AAA earA · fearA · cheerA
- 3 AAA calmA · balmA · psalmA
- 4 AAA moreA · roarA · hoarA
- 5 AAA lostA · frostA · pentecostA
- 6 AA- lampsA · dampsA · encamps
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Ye voices, that arose | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| After the Evening's close, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And whispered to my restless heart repose! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Go, breathe it in the ear | 6 | ······ |
| Of all who doubt and fear, | 6 | ······ |
| And say to them, "Be of good cheer!" | 8 | ········ |
| Ye sounds, so low and calm, | 6 | ······ |
| That in the groves of balm | 6 | ······ |
| Seemed to me like an angel's psalm! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Go, mingle yet once more | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| With the perpetual roar | 7 | ··˘/˘˘· |
| Of the pine forest dark and hoar! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Tongues of the dead, not lost | 6 | ······ |
| But speaking from deaths frost, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Like fiery tongues at Pentecost! | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Glimmer, as funeral lamps, | 7 | /˘·/˘˘· |
| Amid the chills and damps | 6 | ˘/···· |
| Of the vast plain where Death encamps! | 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.