Song
LOVE within the lover’s breastBurns like Hesper in the west,O’er the ashes of the sun,Till the day and night are done;Then when dawn drives up her car—Lo! it is the morning star.
Love! thy love pours down on mineAs the sunlight on the vine,As the snow-rill on the vale,As the salt breeze in the sail;As the song unto the bird,On my lips thy name is heard.
As a dewdrop on the roseIn thy heart my passion glows,As a skylark to the skyUp into thy breast I fly;As a sea-shell of the seaEver shall I sing of thee.
Words in this poem
- hesper n.
- The evening; Hesperus. [See Hesperian.]
- rill n.
- A very small brook; a streamlet. [Cf. LG. rille a small channel or brook, a furrow, a chamfer, OE. rigol a small brook, F. rigole a trench or furrow for water, W. rhill a row, rhigol a little di]
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- skylark n.
- A lark that mounts and sings as it files, especially the common species (Alauda arvensis) found in Europe and in some parts of Asia, and celebrated for its melodious song; -- called also sky laverock.
- 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
Song is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems — Volume 1, Project Gutenberg ebook #1381; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: George Meredith, Song, in Poems, Volume I (1851–1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1381, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/meredith-poems/song.html, id L13124.
Form and metre
Song is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABBCC. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 28% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 AABBCC breastA · westA · sunB · doneB · carC · starC
- 2 AABBCC mineA · vineA · valeB · sailB · birdC · heardC
- 3 AABBCC roseA · glowsA · skyB · flyB · seaC · theeC
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| LOVE within the lover’s breast | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Burns like Hesper in the west, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| O’er the ashes of the sun, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Till the day and night are done; | 7 | ······· |
| Then when dawn drives up her car— | 7 | ······· |
| Lo! it is the morning star. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Love! thy love pours down on mine | 7 | ······· |
| As the sunlight on the vine, | 7 | ··/···· |
| As the snow-rill on the vale, | 7 | ······· |
| As the salt breeze in the sail; | 7 | ······· |
| As the song unto the bird, | 7 | ······· |
| On my lips thy name is heard. | 7 | ······· |
| As a dewdrop on the rose | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| In thy heart my passion glows, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| As a skylark to the sky | 7 | ··/···· |
| Up into thy breast I fly; | 7 | ······· |
| As a sea-shell of the sea | 7 | ······· |
| Ever shall I sing of thee. | 7 | /˘····· |
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.