The God of Music
The God of Music dwelleth out of doors.All seasons through his minstrelsy we meet,Breathing by field and covert haunting-sweetFrom organ-lofts in forests old he pours:A solemn harmony: on leafy floorsTo smooth autumnal pipes he moves his feet,Or with the tingling plectrum of the sleetIn winter keen beats out his thrilling scores.Leave me the reed unplucked beside the stream.And he will stoop and fill it with the breeze;Leave me the viol’s frame in secret trees,Unwrought, and it shall wake a druid theme;Leave me the whispering shell on Nereid shores.The God of Music dwelleth out of doors.
Words in this poem
- minstrelsy n.
- The arts and occupation of minstrels; the singing and playing of a minstrel.
- plectrum n.
- A small instrument of ivory, wood, metal, or quill, used in playing upon the lyre and other stringed instruments.
- sleet n.
- The part of a mortar extending from the chamber to the trunnions.
- thrilling a.
- Causing a thrill; causing tremulous excitement; deeply moving; as, a thrilling romance.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- druid n.
- One of an order of priests which in ancient times existed among certain branches of the Celtic race, especially among the Gauls and Britons. [L. Druides; of Celtic origin; cf. Ir. & Gael. draoi, druidh, magician, Druid, W. derwydd Druid.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The God of Music is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Every Child Should Know The What-Every-Child-Should-Know-Library, Project Gutenberg ebook #16436; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Mary E. Burt, The God of Music, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/the-god-of-music.html, id L25307.
Form and metre
The God of Music is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 57% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 ABBAABBACDDCAA doorsA · meetB · sweetB · poursA · floorsA · feetB · sleetB · scoresA · streamC · breezeD · treesD · themeC · shoresA · doorsA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The God of Music dwelleth out of doors. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| All seasons through his minstrelsy we meet, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| Breathing by field and covert haunting-sweet | 10 | /˘···/˘/˘· |
| From organ-lofts in forests old he pours: | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| A solemn harmony: on leafy floors | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| To smooth autumnal pipes he moves his feet, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Or with the tingling plectrum of the sleet | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| In winter keen beats out his thrilling scores. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Leave me the reed unplucked beside the stream. | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| And he will stoop and fill it with the breeze; | 10 | ·········· |
| Leave me the viol’s frame in secret trees, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Unwrought, and it shall wake a druid theme; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Leave me the whispering shell on Nereid shores. | 11 | ···/˘··/˘˘· |
| The God of Music dwelleth out of doors. | 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.