The Fallen Star

George Darley (1795–1846) · 1795–1846

common measure · ABAB · 32 lines · from Poems

A star is gone! a star is gone!There is a blank in Heaven;One of the cherub choir has doneHis airy course this even.

He sat upon the orb of fireThat hung for ages there,And lent his music to the choirThat haunts the nightly air.

But when his thousand years are pass’d,With a cherubic sighHe vanish’d with his car at last,For even cherubs die!

Hear how his angel-brothers mourn--The minstrels of the spheres--Each chiming sadly in his turnAnd dropping splendid tears.

The planetary sisters allJoin in the fatal song,And weep this hapless brother’s fall,Who sang with them so long.

But deepest of the choral bandThe Lunar Spirit sings,And with a bass-according handSweeps all her sullen strings.

From the deep chambers of the domeWhere sleepless Uriel lies,His rude harmonic thunders comeMingled with mighty sighs.

The thousand car-borne cherubim,The wandering eleven,All join to chant the dirge of himWho fell just now from Heaven.

Words in this poem

cherub n.: A mysterious composite being, the winged footstool and chariot of the Almighty, described in Ezekiel i. and x. [Heb. kerub.]
nightly a.: Of or pertaining to the night, or to every night; happening or done by night, or every night; as, nightly shades; he kept nightly vigils.
cherubic a.: Of or pertaining to cherubs; angelic.
sadly adv.: Wearily; heavily; firmly.
planetary a.: Of or pertaining to the planets; as, planetary inhabitants; planetary motions; planetary year. [Cf. L. planetarius an astrologer, F. planétaire planetary. See Planet.]
hapless a.: Without hap or luck; luckless; unfortunate; unlucky; unhappy; as, hapless youth; hapless maid.
choral a.: Of or pertaining to a choir or chorus; singing, sung, or adapted to be sung, in chorus or harmony. Choral service, a service of song. [LL. choralis, fr. L. chorus. See Chorus.]
sullen a.: Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
sleepless a.: Having no sleep; wakeful.
cherubim n.: The Hebrew plural of Cherub.. Cf. Seraphim.
dirge n.: A piece of music of a mournful character, to accompany funeral rites; a funeral hymn. [Contraction of Lat. dirige, direct thou (imperative of dirigere), the first word of a funeral hymn (Lat. transl. of Psalm v. 8) beginning, "Dirige, Domine, in c]

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

About this text

The Fallen Star is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900, Project Gutenberg ebook #66619; 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 Darley, The Fallen Star, in Poems (1795–1846), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-george-darley/the-fallen-star.html, id L16198.

Form and metre

The Fallen Star is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 5 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 34% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.

See other poems in common measure.

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 AAAA gone^A · heaven^A · done^A · even^A
2 ABAB fire^A · there^B · choir^A · air^B
3 ABAB pass'd^A · sigh^B · last^A · die^B
4 -A-A mourn · spheres^A · turn · tears^A
5 ABAB all^A · song^B · fall^A · long^B
6 ABAB band^A · sings^B · hand^A · strings^B
7 ABAB dome^A · lies^B · come^A · sighs^B
8 -A-A cherubim · eleven^A · him · heaven^A

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 common measure. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
A star is gone! a star is gone!	8	········
There is a blank in Heaven;	7	·····/˘
One of the cherub choir has done	8	···/˘/··
His airy course this even.	7	·/˘··/˘
He sat upon the orb of fire	9	·······/˘
That hung for ages there,	6	···/˘·
And lent his music to the choir	9	···/˘··/˘
That haunts the nightly air.	6	···/˘·
But when his thousand years are pass’d,	8	···/˘···
With a cherubic sigh	6	··˘/˘·
He vanish’d with his car at last,	8	·/˘·····
For even cherubs die!	6	·/˘/˘·
Hear how his angel-brothers mourn--	8	···/˘/˘·
The minstrels of the spheres--	6	·/˘···
Each chiming sadly in his turn	8	·/˘/˘···
And dropping splendid tears.	6	·/˘/˘·
The planetary sisters all	8	·/˘·˘/˘·
Join in the fatal song,	6	···/˘·
And weep this hapless brother’s fall,	8	···/˘/˘·
Who sang with them so long.	6	······
But deepest of the choral band	8	·/˘··/˘·
The Lunar Spirit sings,	6	·/˘/˘·
And with a bass-according hand	8	····˘/˘·
Sweeps all her sullen strings.	6	···/˘·
From the deep chambers of the dome	8	···/˘···
Where sleepless Uriel lies,	6	·/˘···
His rude harmonic thunders come	8	··˘/˘/˘·
Mingled with mighty sighs.	6	/˘·/˘·
The thousand car-borne cherubim,	8	·/˘··/˘˘
The wandering eleven,	7	·/˘˘˘/˘
All join to chant the dirge of him	8	········
Who fell just now from Heaven.	7	·····/˘

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