Laurel · Alfred Noyes · Collected Poems, Volume One

The Progress of Love (A Lyrical Symphony) IV

Alfred Noyes (1880–1958) · 1913

iambic tetrameter · ABAB · 38 lines · from Collected Poems, Volume One

It was about the dawn of dayI heard Etain and Anwyl sayThe waving ferns are a fairy forest,It is time, it is time to wander away;

For the dew is bright on the heather bells,And the breeze in the clover sways and swells,As the waves on the blue sea wake and wander,Over and under the braes and dells.

She was eight years old that day,Full of laughter and play;Eight years old and Anwyl nine,--Two young lovers were they.

Two young lovers were they,Born in the City of Pain;There was never a song in the world so gayAs the song of the child, Etain;

There was never a laugh so sweetWith the ripple of fairy bells,And never a fairy foot so fleetDancing down the woodland dells!

She was eight years old that day,Two young lovers were they.

There was never a sea of mystical gleamsGlooming under enchanted skiesDeep as the dark miraculous dreamsIn Anwyl's haunted eyes.

There was never a glory of lightAround the carolling larkAs Etain's eyes were brave and brightTo daunt the coming dark.

Two young lovers were theyBorn in the City of Pain;There was never a song in the world so gayAs the song of the child, Etain;

Blithe as the wind in the trees,Blithe as the bird on the bough,Blithe as the bees in the sweet Heart's-easeWhere Love lies bleeding now.

Words in this poem

glooming n.: Twilight (of morning or evening); the gloaming. [Cf. Gloaming.]
enchanted a.: Under the power of enchantment; possessed or exercised by enchanters; as, an enchanted castle.
haunted a.: Inhabited by, or subject to the visits of, apparitions; frequented by a ghost.
daunt v. t.: To overcome; to conquer. [OF. danter, F. dompter to tame, subdue, fr. L. domitare, v. intens. of domare to tame. See Tame.]
blithe a.: Gay; merry; sprightly; joyous; glad; cheerful; as, a blithe spirit. [AS. bli blithe, kind; akin to Goth. blei kind, Icel. bli mild, gentle, Dan. & Sw. blid gentle, D. blijd blithe, OHG. blidi kind, blithe.]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

The Progress of Love (A Lyrical Symphony) IV 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, The Progress of Love (A Lyrical Symphony) IV, in Collected Poems, Volume One (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #30501, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/noyes-collected/the-progress-of-love-a-lyrical-symphony-iv.html, id L21436.

Form and metre

The Progress of Love (A Lyrical Symphony) IV is 38 lines in 10 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 6 of its 10 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%).

See other poems in iambic 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 AA-A day^A · say^A · forest · away^A
2 AA-A bells^A · swells^A · wander · dells^A
3 AA-A day^A · play^A · nine · they^A
4 ABAB they^A · pain^B · gay^A · etain^B
5 ABAB sweet^A · bells^B · fleet^A · dells^B
6 AA day^A · they^A
7 ABAB gleams^A · skies^B · dreams^A · eyes^B
8 ABAB light^A · lark^B · bright^A · dark^B
9 ABAB they^A · pain^B · gay^A · etain^B
10 ABAB trees^A · bough^B · ease^A · now^B

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 tetrameter. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
It was about the dawn of day	8	········
I heard Etain and Anwyl say	8	·····/˘·
The waving ferns are a fairy forest,	10	·/˘···/˘/˘
It is time, it is time to wander away;	11	·······/˘˘/
For the dew is bright on the heather bells,	10	·······/˘·
And the breeze in the clover sways and swells,	10	·····/˘···
As the waves on the blue sea wake and wander,	11	·········/˘
Over and under the braes and dells.	9	·········
She was eight years old that day,	7	·······
Full of laughter and play;	6	··/˘··
Eight years old and Anwyl nine,--	7	····/˘·
Two young lovers were they.	6	··/˘··
Two young lovers were they,	6	··/˘··
Born in the City of Pain;	7	···/˘··
There was never a song in the world so gay	10	··/·······
As the song of the child, Etain;	8	········
There was never a laugh so sweet	8	··/˘····
With the ripple of fairy bells,	8	··/˘·/˘·
And never a fairy foot so fleet	9	·/˘·/˘···
Dancing down the woodland dells!	7	/˘··/··
She was eight years old that day,	7	·······
Two young lovers were they.	6	··/˘··
There was never a sea of mystical gleams	10	··/···/˘˘·
Glooming under enchanted skies	8	/˘··˘/˘·
Deep as the dark miraculous dreams	9	····˘/˘˘·
In Anwyl's haunted eyes.	6	·/˘/˘·
There was never a glory of light	9	··/˘·/˘··
Around the carolling lark	7	···/˘˘·
As Etain's eyes were brave and bright	8	········
To daunt the coming dark.	6	···/˘·
Two young lovers were they	6	··/˘··
Born in the City of Pain;	7	···/˘··
There was never a song in the world so gay	10	··/·······
As the song of the child, Etain;	8	········
Blithe as the wind in the trees,	7	·······
Blithe as the bird on the bough,	7	·······
Blithe as the bees in the sweet Heart's-ease	9	·········
Where Love lies bleeding now.	6	···/˘·

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.

More by Alfred Noyes

Collected Poems, Volume One