Commemoration
When first your glory shone upon my faceMy body kindled to a mighty flame,And burnt you yielding in my hot embraceUntil you swooned to love, breathing my name.
And wonder came and filled our night of sleep,Like a new comet crimsoning the sky;And stillness like the stillness of the deepSuspended lay as an unuttered sigh.
I never again shall feel your warm heart flushed,Panting with passion, naked unto mine,Until the throbbing world around is hushedTo quiet worship at our scented shrine.
Nor will your glory seek my swarthy face,To kindle and to change my jaded frameInto a miracle of godlike grace,Transfigured, bathed in your immortal flame.
Words in this poem
- stillness n.
- The quality or state of being still; quietness; silence; calmness; inactivity.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Commemoration is in the public domain. This text is taken from Harlem shadows, Project Gutenberg ebook #64989; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Claude McKay, Commemoration, in Harlem Shadows (1922), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #64989, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mckay-harlem-shadows/commemoration.html, id L01406.
Form and metre
Commemoration is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 31% 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 ABAB faceA · flameB · embraceA · nameB
- 2 ABAB sleepA · skyB · deepA · sighB
- 3 ABAB flushedA · mineB · hushedA · shrineB
- 4 ABAB faceA · frameB · graceA · flameB
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 first your glory shone upon my face | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| My body kindled to a mighty flame, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| And burnt you yielding in my hot embrace | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Until you swooned to love, breathing my name. | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| And wonder came and filled our night of sleep, | 10 | ·/˘···/··· |
| Like a new comet crimsoning the sky; | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| And stillness like the stillness of the deep | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Suspended lay as an unuttered sigh. | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| I never again shall feel your warm heart flushed, | 10 | ·/˘/······ |
| Panting with passion, naked unto mine, | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| Until the throbbing world around is hushed | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| To quiet worship at our scented shrine. | 10 | ·//˘·/˘/˘· |
| Nor will your glory seek my swarthy face, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| To kindle and to change my jaded frame | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Into a miracle of godlike grace, | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| Transfigured, bathed in your immortal flame. | 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.