Every Flower
Every flower and grass-blade, every oneClaims, at least, one bright smile from the sun!Love!—the sunshine of the soul—that art,Hast thou not one sunbeam for my heart?Hast thou not one maid to love me well?Hast thou not one maid to hear me tellOf the coldness of the world, and bringLight and heat in her sweet ministering?Is there not a maid to say "Come near!Thou art weary—lay thy tired head here!"Is there not a maid to kiss awayBlood-drops from my brow, that many a dayCruel men have stoned? Alone I standLike a withered vine upon the land;On its branches not a bird to enchant me,Save the ravens black that ever, ever haunt me.
Words in this poem
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- sunbeam n.
- A beam or ray of the sun. [AS. sunnebeam.]
- enchant v. t.
- To charm by sorcery; to act on by enchantment; to get control of by magical words and rites. [F. enchanter, L. incantare to chant or utter a magic formula over or against one, to bewitch; in in, against + cantare to sing. See Chant, and cf. Incantation.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Every Flower is in the public domain. This text is taken from Translations from Alexander Petofi, the Magyar Poet, by Sir John Bowring (London: Trübner & Co., 1866), Internet Archive, the John Bowring translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sándor Petőfi, Every Flower, in Translations from Alexander Petofi, the Magyar Poet (1866), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petofi-poems-bowring/every-flower.html, id L29850.
Form and metre
Every Flower is 16 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHH oneA · sunA · artB · heartB · wellC · tellC · bringD · ministeringD · nearE · hereE · awayF · dayF · standG · landG · meH · meH
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Every flower and grass-blade, every one | 9 | /˘/···/˘· |
| Claims, at least, one bright smile from the sun! | 9 | ········· |
| Love!—the sunshine of the soul—that art, | 9 | ··/······ |
| Hast thou not one sunbeam for my heart? | 9 | ····/···· |
| Hast thou not one maid to love me well? | 9 | ········· |
| Hast thou not one maid to hear me tell | 9 | ········· |
| Of the coldness of the world, and bring | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| Light and heat in her sweet ministering? | 9 | ······/˘˘ |
| Is there not a maid to say "Come near! | 9 | ········· |
| Thou art weary—lay thy tired head here!" | 9 | ··/˘··/·· |
| Is there not a maid to kiss away | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| Blood-drops from my brow, that many a day | 9 | ······/·· |
| Cruel men have stoned? Alone I stand | 8 | /···˘/·· |
| Like a withered vine upon the land; | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| On its branches not a bird to enchant me, | 11 | ··/˘····˘/· |
| Save the ravens black that ever, ever haunt me. | 10 | ··/˘··//·· |
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.