Epilogue
Carol, every violet hasHeaven for a looking-glass!
Every little valley liesUnder many-clouded skies;Every little cottage standsGirt about with boundless lands.Every little glimmering pondClaims the mighty shores beyond--Shores no seamen ever hailed,Seas no ship has ever sailed.
All the shores when day is doneFade into the setting sun,So the story tries to teachMore than can be told in speech.
Beauty is a fading flower,Truth is but a wizard's tower,Where a solemn death-bell tolls,And a forest round it rolls.
We have come by curious waysTo the Light that holds the days;We have sought in haunts of fearFor that all-enfolding sphere:And lo! it was not far, but near.
We have found, O foolish-fond,The shore that has no shore beyond.
Deep in every heart it liesWith its untranscended skies;For what heaven should bend aboveHearts that own the heaven of love?
Carol, Carol, we have comeBack to heaven, back to home.
Words in this poem
- carol v. t.
- To praise or celebrate in song.
- girt v. t.
- To gird; to encircle; to invest by means of a girdle; to measure the girth of; as, to girt a tree. [From Girt, n., cf. Girth, v.]
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
- curious a.
- Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [OF. curios, curius, F. curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See Cure.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Epilogue is in the public domain. This text is taken from Collected Poems: Volume One, Project Gutenberg ebook #30501; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Alfred Noyes, Epilogue, in Collected Poems, Volume One (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #30501, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/noyes-collected/epilogue.html, id L21410.
Form and metre
Epilogue is 31 lines in 8 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 90% of the lines. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, 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.
- 2 AABBCCDD liesA · skiesA · standsB · landsB · pondC · beyondC · hailedD · sailedD
- 3 AABB doneA · sunA · teachB · speechB
- 4 AABB flowerA · towerA · tollsB · rollsB
- 5 AABBB waysA · daysA · fearB · sphereB · nearB
- 6 AA fondA · beyondA
- 7 AABB liesA · skiesA · aboveB · loveB
- 8 AA comeA · homeA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Carol, every violet has | 7 | /˘/˘/˘· |
| Heaven for a looking-glass! | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Every little valley lies | 7 | /˘/˘/˘· |
| Under many-clouded skies; | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Every little cottage stands | 7 | /˘/˘/˘· |
| Girt about with boundless lands. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Every little glimmering pond | 7 | /˘/˘/˘· |
| Claims the mighty shores beyond-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Shores no seamen ever hailed, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Seas no ship has ever sailed. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| All the shores when day is done | 7 | ······· |
| Fade into the setting sun, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| So the story tries to teach | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| More than can be told in speech. | 7 | ······· |
| Beauty is a fading flower, | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| Truth is but a wizard's tower, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Where a solemn death-bell tolls, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And a forest round it rolls. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| We have come by curious ways | 7 | ····/˘· |
| To the Light that holds the days; | 7 | ······· |
| We have sought in haunts of fear | 7 | ······· |
| For that all-enfolding sphere: | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| And lo! it was not far, but near. | 8 | ········ |
| We have found, O foolish-fond, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| The shore that has no shore beyond. | 8 | ········ |
| Deep in every heart it lies | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| With its untranscended skies; | 7 | ······· |
| For what heaven should bend above | 7 | ··/···· |
| Hearts that own the heaven of love? | 7 | ····/·· |
| Carol, Carol, we have come | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Back to heaven, back to home. | 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.