On the Terrace of the Aigalades
From this high portal, where upspringsThe rose to touch our hands in play,We at a glance behold three things--The Sea, the Town, and the Highway.
And the Sea says: My shipwrecks fear;I drown my best friends in the deep;And those who braved icy tempests, hereAmong my sea-weeds lie asleep!
The Town says: I am filled and fraughtWith tumult and with smoke and care;My days with toil are overwrought,And in my nights I gasp for air.
The Highway says: My wheel-tracks guideTo the pale climates of the North;Where my last milestone stands abideThe people to their death gone forth.
Here, in the shade, this life of ours,Full of delicious air, glides byAmid a multitude of flowersAs countless as the stars on high;
These red-tiled roofs, this fruitful soil,Bathed with an azure all divine,Where springs the tree that gives us oil,The grape that giveth us the wine;
Beneath these mountains stripped of trees,Whose tops with flowers are covered o'er,Where springtime of the HesperidesBegins, but endeth nevermore;
Under these leafy vaults and walls,That unto gentle sleep persuade;This rainbow of the waterfalls,Of mingled mist and sunshine made;
Upon these shores, where all invites,We live our languid life apart;This air is that of life's delights,The festival of sense and heart;
This limpid space of time prolong,Forget to-morrow in to-day,And leave unto the passing throngThe Sea, the Town, and the Highway.
Words in this poem
- fraught n.
- A freight; a cargo. [OE.fraight, fraght; akin to Dan. fragt, Sw. frakt, D. vracht, G. fracht, cf. OHG. fr merit, reward; perh. from corresponding to E. for + The root of E. own. Cf.]
- overwrought p. p.
- Wrought upon excessively; overworked; overexcited.
- gasp v. i.
- To open the mouth wide in catching the breath, or in laborious respiration; to labor for breath; to respire convulsively; to pant violently. [OE. gaspen, gaispen, to yawn, gasp, Icel. geispa to yawn; akin to Sw. gäspa, Dan. gispe to gasp.]
- milestone n.
- A stone serving the same purpose as a milepost.
- 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]
- countless a.
- Incapable of being counted; not ascertainable; innumerable.
- springtime n.
- The season of spring; springtide.
- nevermore adv.
- Never again; at no time hereafter. Testament of Love. Tyndale.
- 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.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the Terrace of the Aigalades 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, On the Terrace of the Aigalades, in A Psalm of Life, and Other Poems (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/on-the-terrace-of-the-aigalades.html, id L26184.
Form and metre
On the Terrace of the Aigalades is 40 lines in 10 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 9 of its 10 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter.
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 ABAB upspringsA · playB · thingsA · highwayB
- 2 ABAB fearA · deepB · hereA · asleepB
- 3 ABAB fraughtA · careB · overwroughtA · airB
- 4 ABAB guideA · northB · abideA · forthB
- 5 ABAB oursA · byB · flowersA · highB
- 6 ABAB soilA · divineB · oilA · wineB
- 8 ABAB wallsA · persuadeB · waterfallsA · madeB
- 9 ABAB invitesA · apartB · delightsA · heartB
- 10 ABAB prolongA · dayB · throngA · highwayB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| From this high portal, where upsprings | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The rose to touch our hands in play, | 8 | ····/··· |
| We at a glance behold three things-- | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| The Sea, the Town, and the Highway. | 8 | ······/· |
| And the Sea says: My shipwrecks fear; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I drown my best friends in the deep; | 8 | ········ |
| And those who braved icy tempests, here | 9 | ····/˘/˘· |
| Among my sea-weeds lie asleep! | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The Town says: I am filled and fraught | 8 | ········ |
| With tumult and with smoke and care; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| My days with toil are overwrought, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And in my nights I gasp for air. | 8 | ········ |
| The Highway says: My wheel-tracks guide | 8 | ·/······ |
| To the pale climates of the North; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Where my last milestone stands abide | 8 | ···/··˘/ |
| The people to their death gone forth. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Here, in the shade, this life of ours, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Full of delicious air, glides by | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Amid a multitude of flowers | 9 | ˘/·/˘··/˘ |
| As countless as the stars on high; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| These red-tiled roofs, this fruitful soil, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Bathed with an azure all divine, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Where springs the tree that gives us oil, | 8 | ········ |
| The grape that giveth us the wine; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Beneath these mountains stripped of trees, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Whose tops with flowers are covered o'er, | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| Where springtime of the Hesperides | 9 | ·/···˘/˘˘ |
| Begins, but endeth nevermore; | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Under these leafy vaults and walls, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That unto gentle sleep persuade; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| This rainbow of the waterfalls, | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| Of mingled mist and sunshine made; | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| Upon these shores, where all invites, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| We live our languid life apart; | 8 | ··//˘·˘/ |
| This air is that of life's delights, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The festival of sense and heart; | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| This limpid space of time prolong, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Forget to-morrow in to-day, | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| And leave unto the passing throng | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The Sea, the Town, and the Highway. | 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.