Orpheus and Eurydice VII
Only now when the purple vintage bubbles and winks in the autumn glory,Only now when the great white oxen drag the weight of the harvesthome,Sunburnt labourers, under the star of the sunset, sing as an old-worldstoryHow two pale and thwarted lovers ever through Arcady still must roam.
Faint as the silvery mists of morning over the peaks that thenoonday parches,On through the haunts of the gloaming musk-rose, down to the riversthat glisten below,Ever they wander from meadow to pinewood, under the whisperingwoodbine arches,Faint as the mists of the dews of the dusk when violets dream andthe moon-winds blow.
Though the golden lute of Orpheus gathered the splendours ofearth and heaven,All the golden greenwood notes and all the chimes of the changing sea,Old men over the fires of winter murmur again that he was not givenThe steadfast heart divine to rule that infinite freedom of harmony.
Therefore he failed, say they; but we, that have no wisdom, canonly rememberHow through the purple perfumed pinewoods white Eurydice roamed andsung:How through the whispering gold of the wheat, where the poppy burnedlike a crimson ember,Down to the valley in beauty she came, and under her feet the flowersupsprung.
Down to the valley she came, for far and far below in the dreamingmeadowsPleaded ever the Voice of voices, calling his love by her golden name;So she arose from her home in the hills, and down through the blossomsthat danced with their shadows,Out of the blue of the dreaming distance, down to the heart of herlover she came.
Words in this poem
- noonday n.
- Midday; twelve o'clock in the day; noon.
- gloaming n.
- Twilight; dusk; the fall of the evening. [Scot. & North of Eng., and in poetry.] Hogg. [See Gloom.]
- orpheus n.
- The famous mythic Thracian poet, son of the Muse Calliope, and husband of Eurydice. He is reputed to have had power to entrance beasts and inanimate objects by the music of his lyre.
- greenwood n.
- A forest as it appears is spring and summer.
- ember n.
- A lighted coal, smoldering amid ashes; -- used chiefly in the plural, to signify mingled coals and ashes; the smoldering remains of a fire. [OE. emmeres, emeres, AS. ; akin to Icel. eimyrja, Dan. emmer, MHG. eimere; cf. Icel. eimr vapor, smoke.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Orpheus and Eurydice VII 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, Orpheus and Eurydice VII, in Collected Poems, Volume One (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #30501, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/noyes-collected/orpheus-and-eurydice-vii.html, id L25358.
Form and metre
Orpheus and Eurydice VII is 34 lines in 5 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic trimeter.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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-B-AB gloryA · harvest · homeB · world · storyA · roamB
- 2 -A-B-A-B the · parchesA · rivers · belowB · whispering · archesA · and · blowB
- 4 -ABCBA-C can · rememberA · andB · sungC · burnedB · emberA · flowers · upsprungC
- 5 -AB-A-B dreaming · meadowsA · nameB · blossoms · shadowsA · her · cameB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Only now when the purple vintage bubbles and winks in the autumn glory, | 19 | /˘···/˘/˘/˘····/˘/˘ |
| Only now when the great white oxen drag the weight of the harvest | 16 | /˘·····/˘·····/˘ |
| home, | 1 | · |
| Sunburnt labourers, under the star of the sunset, sing as an old-world | 18 | ···········/······ |
| story | 2 | /˘ |
| How two pale and thwarted lovers ever through Arcady still must roam. | 16 | ····/˘/˘/······· |
| Faint as the silvery mists of morning over the peaks that the | 14 | ···/˘··/˘····· |
| noonday parches, | 4 | /˘/˘ |
| On through the haunts of the gloaming musk-rose, down to the rivers | 15 | ······/˘·····/˘ |
| that glisten below, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Ever they wander from meadow to pinewood, under the whispering | 16 | /·/˘·/········/˘ |
| woodbine arches, | 4 | /˘/˘ |
| Faint as the mists of the dews of the dusk when violets dream and | 15 | ···········/˘·· |
| the moon-winds blow. | 4 | ···· |
| Though the golden lute of Orpheus gathered the splendours of | 14 | ··/˘··/˘/˘·/˘· |
| earth and heaven, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| All the golden greenwood notes and all the chimes of the changing sea, | 16 | ··/˘/········/˘· |
| Old men over the fires of winter murmur again that he was not given | 17 | ····/·/˘/˘˘/····/ |
| The steadfast heart divine to rule that infinite freedom of harmony. | 16 | ·/··˘/···/˘/˘·/˘ |
| Therefore he failed, say they; but we, that have no wisdom, can | 14 | ···········/˘· |
| only remember | 5 | /˘˘/˘ |
| How through the purple perfumed pinewoods white Eurydice roamed and | 16 | ···/˘˘/········· |
| sung: | 1 | · |
| How through the whispering gold of the wheat, where the poppy burned | 14 | ···/˘······/˘· |
| like a crimson ember, | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Down to the valley in beauty she came, and under her feet the flowers | 17 | ···/˘·/˘········/ |
| upsprung. | 2 | ·· |
| Down to the valley she came, for far and far below in the dreaming | 17 | ···/˘··········/˘ |
| meadows | 2 | /· |
| Pleaded ever the Voice of voices, calling his love by her golden name; | 17 | /˘/···/˘/˘····/˘· |
| So she arose from her home in the hills, and down through the blossoms | 16 | ··˘/··········/˘ |
| that danced with their shadows, | 6 | ····/· |
| Out of the blue of the dreaming distance, down to the heart of her | 16 | ······/˘/˘······ |
| lover she came. | 4 | /˘·· |
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.