Undying Certainties
In the oriental fieldsSpring's approach my spirit gildsWith the brightness of the day;Gladness waking all around,My full heart a garden ground,Where midst flowers soft breezes play.
Yet I know that heart is pantingFor an unknown something wanting,Not to be by earth supplied:Something which must 'find its rootIn thy love,—and blossoming shootFrom that love—mine own dear bride!
Worldlings in their pride and follyMiss the blessing, miss it wholly—Vainly in its search they rove;While from thee as naturally,As from lily of the valley,Breathes the fragrant breath of love.
Fragrant breath of glowing light!It can cheer the darkest night,Even of death, thro' whose dim portalIt bursts forth, as if foretelling,From my future, final dwelling,A far brighter light immortal.
Why should death an image bringMouldering and perishing?Death, which is the charioteer,Our freed spirits to conveyOver an ascending way,To the heavens all bright and clear.
When I look upon the sky,In its blue immensity,Fancy fashions out a road,Fading in the distance far,Where, from smiling star to star,We are welcomed up to God.
Give thy hand! On soaring wing,The sweet birds of midnight sing,"Higher! higher!" join their flight,Till we reach that ocean's brim,Where the swans of Eden swimIn the Paradise of light.
Words in this poem
- charioteer n.
- One who drives a chariot.
- immensity n.
- The state or quality of being immense; inlimited or immeasurable extension; infinity; vastness in extent or bulk; greatness. [L. immensitas: cf. F. immensité.]
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
- eden n.
- The garden where Adam and Eve first dwelt; hence, a delightful region or residence. [Heb. eden delight, pleasure; also, a place of pleasure, Eden.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Undying Certainties 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, Undying Certainties, in Translations from Alexander Petofi, the Magyar Poet (1866), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petofi-poems-bowring/undying-certainties.html, id L29831.
Form and metre
Undying Certainties is 42 lines in 7 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABCCB, complete in 5 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 AABCCB fieldsA · gildsA · dayB · aroundC · groundC · playB
- 2 AABCCB pantingA · wantingA · suppliedB · rootC · shootC · brideB
- 4 AABCCB lightA · nightA · portalB · foretellingC · dwellingC · immortalB
- 5 AABCCB bringA · perishingA · charioteerB · conveyC · wayC · clearB
- 6 ---AA- sky · immensity · road · farA · starA · god
- 7 AABCCB wingA · singA · flightB · brimC · swimC · lightB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| In the oriental fields | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Spring's approach my spirit gilds | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| With the brightness of the day; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Gladness waking all around, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| My full heart a garden ground, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Where midst flowers soft breezes play. | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| Yet I know that heart is panting | 8 | ······/˘ |
| For an unknown something wanting, | 8 | ··˘//˘/˘ |
| Not to be by earth supplied: | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Something which must 'find its root | 7 | /˘····· |
| In thy love,—and blossoming shoot | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| From that love—mine own dear bride! | 7 | ······· |
| Worldlings in their pride and folly | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Miss the blessing, miss it wholly— | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Vainly in its search they rove; | 7 | /˘····· |
| While from thee as naturally, | 8 | ····/˘˘˘ |
| As from lily of the valley, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Breathes the fragrant breath of love. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Fragrant breath of glowing light! | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| It can cheer the darkest night, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Even of death, thro' whose dim portal | 9 | /˘·····/˘ |
| It bursts forth, as if foretelling, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| From my future, final dwelling, | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| A far brighter light immortal. | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Why should death an image bring | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Mouldering and perishing? | 7 | /˘˘·/˘˘ |
| Death, which is the charioteer, | 7 | ······· |
| Our freed spirits to convey | 8 | /˘·/˘·˘/ |
| Over an ascending way, | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| To the heavens all bright and clear. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| When I look upon the sky, | 7 | ······· |
| In its blue immensity, | 7 | ···˘/˘˘ |
| Fancy fashions out a road, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Fading in the distance far, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Where, from smiling star to star, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| We are welcomed up to God. | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| Give thy hand! On soaring wing, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| The sweet birds of midnight sing, | 7 | ····/·· |
| "Higher! higher!" join their flight, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Till we reach that ocean's brim, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Where the swans of Eden swim | 7 | ····/˘· |
| In the Paradise of light. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
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.