The Galaxy
Torrent of light and river of the air,Along whose bed the glimmering stars are seenLike gold and silver sands in some ravineWhere mountain streams have left their channels bare!The Spaniard sees in thee the pathway, whereHis patron saint descended in the sheenOf his celestial armor, on sereneAnd quiet nights, when all the heavens were fair.Not this I see, nor yet the ancient fableOf Phaeton's wild course, that scorched the skiesWhere'er the hoofs of his hot coursers trod;But the white drift of worlds o'er chasms of sable,The star-dust that is whirled aloft and fliesFrom the invisible chariot-wheels of God.
Words in this poem
- spaniard n.
- A native or inhabitant of Spain.
- pathway n.
- A footpath; a beaten track; any path or course. Also used figuratively.
- sheen v. i.
- To shine; to glisten.
- sable n.
- A carnivorous animal of the Weasel family (Mustela zibellina) native of the northern latitudes of Europe, Asia, and America, -- noted for its fine, soft, and valuable fur. [OF. sable, F. zibeline sable (in sense 4), LL. sabellum; cf. D. sabel, Dan. sabel, zobel, Sw. sabel, sobel, G. zobel; all fr. Russ. sóbole.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Galaxy 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 Galaxy, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/the-galaxy.html, id L17744.
Form and metre
The Galaxy is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDECDE, the pattern of the Italian sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 57% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other Italian sonnets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABBAABBACDECDE airA · seenB · ravineB · bareA · whereA · sheenB · sereneB · fairA · fableC · skiesD · trodE · sableC · fliesD · godE
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Torrent of light and river of the air, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Along whose bed the glimmering stars are seen | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| Like gold and silver sands in some ravine | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Where mountain streams have left their channels bare! | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| The Spaniard sees in thee the pathway, where | 10 | ·/˘····/·· |
| His patron saint descended in the sheen | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Of his celestial armor, on serene | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| And quiet nights, when all the heavens were fair. | 10 | ·/····/˘·· |
| Not this I see, nor yet the ancient fable | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Of Phaeton's wild course, that scorched the skies | 9 | ········· |
| Where'er the hoofs of his hot coursers trod; | 11 | ˘˘/·····/˘· |
| But the white drift of worlds o'er chasms of sable, | 12 | ·······/˘·/˘ |
| The star-dust that is whirled aloft and flies | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| From the invisible chariot-wheels of God. | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
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.