Gracious Moonlight
Even as the moon grows queenlier in mid-spaceWhen the sky darkens, and her cloud-rapt carThrills with intenser radiance from afar,--So lambent, lady, beams thy sovereign graceWhen the drear soul desires thee. Of that faceWhat shall be said,--which, like a governing star,Gathers and garners from all things that areTheir silent penetrative loveliness?
O'er water-daisies and wild waifs of Spring,There where the iris rears its gold-crowned sheafWith flowering rush and sceptred arrow-leaf,So have I marked Queen Dian, in bright ringOf cloud above and wave below, take wingAnd chase night's gloom, as thou the spirit's grief.
Words in this poem
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- lambent a.
- Playing on the surface; touching lightly; gliding over. [L. lambens, -enlis, p. pr. of lambere to lick; akin to lap. See Lap to drink by licking.]
- drear n.
- Sadness; dismalness.
- 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,]
- penetrative a.
- Tending to penetrate; of a penetrating quality; piercing; as, the penetrative sun. [Cf. F. pénétratif.]
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Gracious Moonlight is in the public domain. This text is taken from The House of Life, Project Gutenberg ebook #3692; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Gracious Moonlight, in The House of Life (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3692, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-house-of-life/gracious-moonlight.html, id L20940.
Form and metre
Gracious Moonlight is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%).
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 ABBAABB- spaceA · carB · afarB · graceA · faceA · starB · areB · loveliness
- 2 ABBAAB springA · sheafB · leafB · ringA · wingA · griefB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Even as the moon grows queenlier in mid-space | 10 | /········· |
| When the sky darkens, and her cloud-rapt car | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Thrills with intenser radiance from afar,-- | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| So lambent, lady, beams thy sovereign grace | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| When the drear soul desires thee. Of that face | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| What shall be said,--which, like a governing star, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Gathers and garners from all things that are | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Their silent penetrative loveliness? | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘˘/˘˘ |
| O'er water-daisies and wild waifs of Spring, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| There where the iris rears its gold-crowned sheaf | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| With flowering rush and sceptred arrow-leaf, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| So have I marked Queen Dian, in bright ring | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Of cloud above and wave below, take wing | 10 | ·········· |
| And chase night's gloom, as thou the spirit's grief. | 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.