The Singers
God sent his Singers upon earthWith songs of sadness and of mirth,That they might touch the hearts of men,And bring them back to heaven again.
The first, a youth, with soul of fire,Held in his hand a golden lyre;Through groves he wandered, and by streams,Playing the music of our dreams.
The second, with a bearded face,Stood singing in the market-place,And stirred with accents deep and loudThe hearts of all the listening crowd.
A gray old man, the third and last,Sang in cathedrals dim and vast,While the majestic organ rolledContrition from its mouths of gold.
And those who heard the Singers threeDisputed which the best might be;For still their music seemed to startDiscordant echoes in each heart,
But the great Master said, "I seeNo best in kind, but in degree;I gave a various gift to each,To charm, to strengthen, and to teach.
"These are the three great chords of might,And he whose ear is tuned arightWill hear no discord in the three,But the most perfect harmony."
Words in this poem
- sadness n.
- Heaviness; firmness.
- contrition n.
- The act of grinding or ribbing to powder; attrition; friction; rubbing. [F. contrition, L. contritio.]
- aright adv.
- Rightly; correctly; in a right way or form; without mistake or crime; as, to worship God aright. [Pref. a- + right.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Singers 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 Singers, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/the-singers.html, id L17575.
Form and metre
The Singers is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 6 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.4 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% 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 AABB earthA · mirthA · menB · againB
- 2 AABB fireA · lyreA · streamsB · dreamsB
- 3 AABB faceA · placeA · loudB · crowdB
- 4 AABB lastA · vastA · rolledB · goldB
- 5 AABB threeA · beA · startB · heartB
- 6 AABB seeA · degreeA · eachB · teachB
- 7 AA-- mightA · arightA · three · harmony
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 |
|---|---|---|
| God sent his Singers upon earth | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With songs of sadness and of mirth, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That they might touch the hearts of men, | 8 | ········ |
| And bring them back to heaven again. | 9 | ·····/˘˘/ |
| The first, a youth, with soul of fire, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Held in his hand a golden lyre; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Through groves he wandered, and by streams, | 9 | ···/˘˘··· |
| Playing the music of our dreams. | 9 | /˘·/˘·/˘· |
| The second, with a bearded face, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Stood singing in the market-place, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And stirred with accents deep and loud | 9 | ··˘·/˘··· |
| The hearts of all the listening crowd. | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| A gray old man, the third and last, | 8 | ········ |
| Sang in cathedrals dim and vast, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| While the majestic organ rolled | 9 | ··˘/˘/˘·˘ |
| Contrition from its mouths of gold. | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| And those who heard the Singers three | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Disputed which the best might be; | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| For still their music seemed to start | 9 | ···/˘·˘·· |
| Discordant echoes in each heart, | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| But the great Master said, "I see | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| No best in kind, but in degree; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| I gave a various gift to each, | 9 | ···/˘˘··· |
| To charm, to strengthen, and to teach. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| "These are the three great chords of might, | 8 | ········ |
| And he whose ear is tuned aright | 9 | ······˘˘/ |
| Will hear no discord in the three, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But the most perfect harmony." | 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.