To the Evening-Star
When we have once said lowly "Evening-Star!"Words give no more--for, in thy silver pride,Thou shinest as naught else can shine beside:The thick smoke, coiling round the sooty barForever, and the customed lamp-light marThe stillness of my thought--seeing things glideSo samely:--then I ope my windows wide,And gaze in peace to where thou shin'st afar.The wind that comes across the faint-white snowSo freshly, and the river dimly seen,Seem like new things that never had been soBefore; and thou art bright as thou hast beenSince thy white rays put sweetness in the eyesOf the first souls that loved in Paradise.
Words in this poem
- stillness n.
- The quality or state of being still; quietness; silence; calmness; inactivity.
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- dimly adv.
- In a dim or obscure manner; not brightly or clearly; with imperfect sight.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To the Evening-Star is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of James Russell Lowell With biographical sketch by Nathan Haskell Dole, Project Gutenberg ebook #38520; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: James Russell Lowell, To the Evening-Star, in Poems (1844–1888), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38520, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lowell-james-russell-poems/to-the-evening-star.html, id L13647.
Form and metre
To the Evening-Star is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 ABBAABBAC-C--- starA · prideB · besideB · barA · marA · glideB · wideB · afarA · snowC · seen · soC · been · eyes · paradise
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When we have once said lowly "Evening-Star!" | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Words give no more--for, in thy silver pride, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Thou shinest as naught else can shine beside: | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| The thick smoke, coiling round the sooty bar | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Forever, and the customed lamp-light mar | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| The stillness of my thought--seeing things glide | 10 | ·/˘···/˘·· |
| So samely:--then I ope my windows wide, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| And gaze in peace to where thou shin'st afar. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| The wind that comes across the faint-white snow | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| So freshly, and the river dimly seen, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Seem like new things that never had been so | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Before; and thou art bright as thou hast been | 10 | ·········· |
| Since thy white rays put sweetness in the eyes | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Of the first souls that loved in Paradise. | 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.