The Bridge of Cloud
Burn, O evening hearth, and wakenPleasant visions, as of old!Though the house by winds be shaken,Safe I keep this room of gold!
Ah, no longer wizard FancyBuilds her castles in the air,Luring me by necromancyUp the never-ending stair!
But, instead, she builds me bridgesOver many a dark ravine,Where beneath the gusty ridgesCataracts dash and roar unseen.
And I cross them, little heedingBlast of wind or torrent's roar,As I follow the recedingFootsteps that have gone before.
Naught avails the imploring gesture,Naught avails the cry of pain!When I touch the flying vesture,'T is the gray robe of the rain.
Baffled I return, and, leaningO'er the parapets of cloud,Watch the mist that interveningWraps the valley in its shroud.
And the sounds of life ascendingFaintly, vaguely, meet the ear,Murmur of bells and voices blendingWith the rush of waters near.
Well I know what there lies hidden,Every tower and town and farm,And again the land forbiddenReassumes its vanished charm.
Well I know the secret places,And the nests in hedge and tree;At what doors are friendly faces,In what hearts are thoughts of me.
Through the mist and darkness sinking,Blown by wind and beaten by shower,Down I fling the thought I'm thinking,Down I toss this Alpine flower.
Words in this poem
- waken v. i.
- To wake; to cease to sleep; to be awakened. [OE. waknen, AS. wæcnan; akin to Goth. gawaknan. See Wake, v. i.]
- gusty a.
- Subject to, or characterized by, gusts or squalls; windy; stormy; tempestuous.
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- imploring a.
- That implores; beseeching; entreating.
- blending n.
- The act of mingling.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Bridge of Cloud 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, The Bridge of Cloud, in A Psalm of Life, and Other Poems (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/the-bridge-of-cloud.html, id L17708.
Form and metre
The Bridge of Cloud is 40 lines in 10 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 22 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 30% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 wakenA · oldB · shakenA · goldB
- 2 ABAB fancyA · airB · necromancyA · stairB
- 3 ABAB bridgesA · ravineB · ridgesA · unseenB
- 4 ABAB heedingA · roarB · recedingA · beforeB
- 5 ABAB gestureA · painB · vestureA · rainB
- 6 ABAB leaningA · cloudB · interveningA · shroudB
- 7 ABAB ascendingA · earB · blendingA · nearB
- 8 ABAB hiddenA · farmB · forbiddenA · charmB
- 9 ABAB placesA · treeB · facesA · meB
- 10 ABAB sinkingA · showerB · thinkingA · flowerB
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Burn, O evening hearth, and waken | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Pleasant visions, as of old! | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Though the house by winds be shaken, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Safe I keep this room of gold! | 7 | ······· |
| Ah, no longer wizard Fancy | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Builds her castles in the air, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Luring me by necromancy | 8 | /˘··/˘·˘ |
| Up the never-ending stair! | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| But, instead, she builds me bridges | 8 | ·˘/···/˘ |
| Over many a dark ravine, | 8 | ··/˘··˘/ |
| Where beneath the gusty ridges | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Cataracts dash and roar unseen. | 8 | /˘····˘/ |
| And I cross them, little heeding | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Blast of wind or torrent's roar, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| As I follow the receding | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Footsteps that have gone before. | 7 | /······ |
| Naught avails the imploring gesture, | 9 | ·˘/·˘/˘/˘ |
| Naught avails the cry of pain! | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| When I touch the flying vesture, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| 'T is the gray robe of the rain. | 8 | ········ |
| Baffled I return, and, leaning | 8 | /˘·˘/·/˘ |
| O'er the parapets of cloud, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Watch the mist that intervening | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Wraps the valley in its shroud. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And the sounds of life ascending | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Faintly, vaguely, meet the ear, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Murmur of bells and voices blending | 9 | /˘···/˘/˘ |
| With the rush of waters near. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Well I know what there lies hidden, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Every tower and town and farm, | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| And again the land forbidden | 8 | ·˘/··˘/˘ |
| Reassumes its vanished charm. | 8 | ˘˘/·/˘˘· |
| Well I know the secret places, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| And the nests in hedge and tree; | 7 | ······· |
| At what doors are friendly faces, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| In what hearts are thoughts of me. | 7 | ······· |
| Through the mist and darkness sinking, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Blown by wind and beaten by shower, | 9 | ····/˘·/˘ |
| Down I fling the thought I'm thinking, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Down I toss this Alpine flower. | 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.