I and the Sun
Some have imagined that human regretsMount to the moon and are petrified there;Some that the dew-drop, the flower-bud that wets,Is the rendering to earth of a heaven-dropping tear.
But my heart-soarings are not to the moon,They to the sun in its glory aspire;Thence are the songs which their music attune,Thence come love's gushes, thence extasy's fire.
I and the sun are betrothed,—his bright beamKindles a beam in my spirit as bright;All my heart's joys I contemplate in him,While my heart's mirror reflects back his light.
Yet one sad thought for the future I have,When I repose where my fathers reposed;Tho' he may rise and may sit on my grave,Rising or sitting my eyes will be closed.
Yet men have said that the ghosts have a right,For a fugitive hour from their prisons to stray:O let my prison be closed thro' the night,And let me come forth in the brightness of day!
Words in this poem
- aspire v. t.
- To aspire to; to long for; to try to reach; to mount to.
- attune v. t.
- To tune or put in tune; to make melodious; to adjust, as one sound or musical instrument to another; as, to attune the voice to a harp. [Pref. ad- + tune.]
- contemplate v. t.
- To look at on all sides or in all its bearings; to view or consider with continued attention; to regard with deliberate care; to meditate on; to study. [L. contemplatus, p.p. of contemplari to contemplate; con- + templum a space for observation marked out by the augur. See Temple.]
- reposed a.
- Composed; calm; tranquil; at rest.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
I and the Sun 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, I and the Sun, in Translations from Alexander Petofi, the Magyar Poet (1866), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petofi-poems-bowring/i-and-the-sun.html, id L29849.
Form and metre
I and the Sun is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
See other poems in iambic 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 ABAB regretsA · thereB · wetsA · tearB
- 2 ABAB moonA · aspireB · attuneA · fireB
- 3 ABAB beamA · brightB · himA · lightB
- 4 ABAB haveA · reposedB · graveA · closedB
- 5 ABAB rightA · strayB · nightA · dayB
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Some have imagined that human regrets | 10 | ··˘/˘·/˘˘/ |
| Mount to the moon and are petrified there; | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| Some that the dew-drop, the flower-bud that wets, | 10 | ······/··· |
| Is the rendering to earth of a heaven-dropping tear. | 12 | ··/˘····//˘· |
| But my heart-soarings are not to the moon, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| They to the sun in its glory aspire; | 10 | ······/˘˘/ |
| Thence are the songs which their music attune, | 10 | ······/˘˘/ |
| Thence come love's gushes, thence extasy's fire. | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| I and the sun are betrothed,—his bright beam | 10 | ·········· |
| Kindles a beam in my spirit as bright; | 10 | /˘····/˘·· |
| All my heart's joys I contemplate in him, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| While my heart's mirror reflects back his light. | 10 | ···/˘˘/··· |
| Yet one sad thought for the future I have, | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| When I repose where my fathers reposed; | 10 | ··˘/··/˘/· |
| Tho' he may rise and may sit on my grave, | 10 | ·········· |
| Rising or sitting my eyes will be closed. | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Yet men have said that the ghosts have a right, | 10 | ·········· |
| For a fugitive hour from their prisons to stray: | 11 | ··/˘/··/˘·· |
| O let my prison be closed thro' the night, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And let me come forth in the brightness of day! | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
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.