Sea Sunset
A gallant city has been builded farIn the pied heaven,Bannered with crimson, sentinelled by starOf crystal even;Around a harbor of the twilight glowing,With jubilant waves about its gateways flowing.
A city of the Land of Lost DelightOn seas enchanted,Presently to be lost in mist moon-whiteAnd music-haunted;Given but briefly to our raptured vision,With all its opal towers and shrines elysian.
Had we some mystic boat with pearly oarAnd wizard pilot,To guide us safely by the siren shoreAnd cloudy islet,We might embark and reach that shining portalBeyond which linger dreams and joys immortal.
But we may only gaze with longing eyesOn those far, sparklingPalaces in the fairy-peopled skies,O'er waters darkling,Until the winds of night come shoreward roaming,And the dim west has only gray and gloaming.
Words in this poem
- bannered a.
- Decorated with a banner or banners
- jubilant a.
- Uttering songs of triumph; shouting with joy; triumphant; exulting. [L. jubilans, -antis, p. pr. of jubilare to shout for joy: cf. F. jubila. See Jubilate.]
- enchanted a.
- Under the power of enchantment; possessed or exercised by enchanters; as, an enchanted castle.
- presently adv.
- At present; at this time; now.
- haunted a.
- Inhabited by, or subject to the visits of, apparitions; frequented by a ghost.
- elysian a.
- Pertaining, or the abode of the blessed after death; hence, yielding the highest pleasures; exceedingly delightful; beatific. [L. Elysius, fr. Elysium.]
- islet n.
- A little island. [OF. islette (cf. F. îlot), dim. of isle.]
- peopled a.
- Stocked with, or as with, people; inhabited.
- darkling a.
- Becoming dark or gloomy; frowing.
- shoreward adv.
- Toward the shore.
- gloaming n.
- Twilight; dusk; the fall of the evening. [Scot. & North of Eng., and in poetry.] Hogg. [See Gloom.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sea Sunset is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Watchman and Other Poems (New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1917; Toronto: McClelland, Goodchild and Stewart, 1916), Internet Archive; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: L. M. Montgomery, Sea Sunset, in The Watchman and Other Poems (1916), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/montgomery-watchman/sea-sunset.html, id L29360.
Form and metre
Sea Sunset is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 A-A-BB farA · heaven · starA · even · glowingB · flowingB
- 2 A-A--- delightA · enchanted · whiteA · haunted · vision · elysian
- 3 A-A-BB oarA · pilot · shoreA · islet · portalB · immortalB
- 4 ABABCC eyesA · sparklingB · skiesA · darklingB · roamingC · gloamingC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A gallant city has been builded far | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| In the pied heaven, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Bannered with crimson, sentinelled by star | 9 | /˘·/˘/˘·· |
| Of crystal even; | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Around a harbor of the twilight glowing, | 11 | ···/˘··/·/˘ |
| With jubilant waves about its gateways flowing. | 10 | ·/˘····/·/ |
| A city of the Land of Lost Delight | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| On seas enchanted, | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| Presently to be lost in mist moon-white | 9 | /˘······· |
| And music-haunted; | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Given but briefly to our raptured vision, | 10 | /·/˘·//˘/˘ |
| With all its opal towers and shrines elysian. | 11 | ···/˘/··˘/˘ |
| Had we some mystic boat with pearly oar | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And wizard pilot, | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| To guide us safely by the siren shore | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And cloudy islet, | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| We might embark and reach that shining portal | 11 | ··˘/···/˘/˘ |
| Beyond which linger dreams and joys immortal. | 11 | ···/˘···˘/˘ |
| But we may only gaze with longing eyes | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| On those far, sparkling | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Palaces in the fairy-peopled skies, | 9 | /˘··/˘/˘· |
| O'er waters darkling, | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Until the winds of night come shoreward roaming, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| And the dim west has only gray and gloaming. | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
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.