The Song of the Nenuphars
Leaves of the Nenuphars and silken skirts the same pale green,On flower and laughing face alike the same rose-tints are seen;Like some blurred tapestry they blend within the lake displayed:You cannot part the leaves from silk, the lily from the maid.Only when sudden voices swellDo maidens of their presence tell.
Here long ago the girls of Sou, the darlings of the King,Dabbled their shining skirts with dew from the gracious blooms of Spring.When to the lake's sun-dimpled marge the bright procession wends,The languid lilies raise their heads as though to greet their friends;When down the river-banks they roam,The white moon-lady leads them home.
Words in this poem
- marge n.
- Border; margin; edge; verge. [F. marge. See Margin.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Song of the Nenuphars is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Lute of Jade, Project Gutenberg ebook #390, the L. Cranmer-Byng translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Various, The Song of the Nenuphars, in A Lute of Jade (1909), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #390, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lute-of-jade/the-song-of-the-nenuphars.html, id L15584.
Form and metre
The Song of the Nenuphars is 12 lines in 2 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABBCC. The metre is iambic heptameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 12.0 syllables. 8% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic heptameter.
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 AABBCC greenA · seenA · displayedB · maidB · swellC · tellC
- 2 AABBCC kingA · springA · wendsB · friendsB · roamC · homeC
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 heptameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Leaves of the Nenuphars and silken skirts the same pale green, | 14 | ·······/˘····· |
| On flower and laughing face alike the same rose-tints are seen; | 14 | ·/·/˘·˘/······ |
| Like some blurred tapestry they blend within the lake displayed: | 13 | ···/˘······˘/ |
| You cannot part the leaves from silk, the lily from the maid. | 14 | ·/˘······/˘··· |
| Only when sudden voices swell | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| Do maidens of their presence tell. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Here long ago the girls of Sou, the darlings of the King, | 14 | ··˘/·····/˘··· |
| Dabbled their shining skirts with dew from the gracious blooms of Spring. | 15 | /˘·/˘·····/˘··· |
| When to the lake's sun-dimpled marge the bright procession wends, | 14 | ·····/˘···˘/˘· |
| The languid lilies raise their heads as though to greet their friends; | 14 | ·/˘/˘········· |
| When down the river-banks they roam, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The white moon-lady leads them home. | 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.