Song
I saw thee on thy bridal day—When a burning blush came o’er thee,Though happiness around thee lay,The world all love before thee:
And in thine eye a kindling light(Whatever it might be)Was all on Earth my aching sightOf Loveliness could see.
That blush, perhaps, was maiden shame—As such it well may pass—Though its glow hath raised a fiercer flameIn the breast of him, alas!
Who saw thee on that bridal day,When that deep blush would come o’er thee,Though happiness around thee lay,The world all love before thee.
Words in this poem
- aching a.
- That aches; continuously painful. See Ache.
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Song is in the public domain. This text is taken from The poetical works of Edgar Allan Poe, Project Gutenberg ebook #79019; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edgar Allan Poe, Song, in The Complete Poetical Works (1827–1849), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #79019, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poe-poems/song.html, id L04192.
Form and metre
Song is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.5 syllables. 19% 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 ABAB dayA · theeB · layA · theeB
- 2 ABAB lightA · beB · sightA · seeB
- 3 ABAB shameA · passB · flameA · alasB
- 4 ABAB dayA · theeB · layA · theeB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I saw thee on thy bridal day— | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When a burning blush came o’er thee, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Though happiness around thee lay, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| The world all love before thee: | 7 | ······· |
| And in thine eye a kindling light | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| (Whatever it might be) | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Was all on Earth my aching sight | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of Loveliness could see. | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| That blush, perhaps, was maiden shame— | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| As such it well may pass— | 6 | ······ |
| Though its glow hath raised a fiercer flame | 9 | ······/˘· |
| In the breast of him, alas! | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Who saw thee on that bridal day, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When that deep blush would come o’er thee, | 8 | ········ |
| Though happiness around thee lay, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| The world all love before thee. | 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.