The Moonstar
Lady, I thank thee for thy loveliness,Because my lady is more lovely still.Glorying I gaze, and yield with glad goodwillTo thee thy tribute; by whose sweet-spun dressOf delicate life Love labours to assessMy Lady's absolute queendom; saying, 'Lo!How high this beauty is, which yet doth showBut as that beauty's sovereign votaress.'
Lady, I saw thee with her, side by side;And as, when night's fair fires their queen surround,An emulous star too near the moon will ride,--Even so thy rays within her luminous boundWere traced no more; and by the light so drown'd,Lady, not thou but she was glorified.
Words in this poem
- thank n.
- A expression of gratitude; an acknowledgment expressive of a sense of favor or kindness received; obligation, claim, or desert, or gratitude; -- now generally used in the plural. [AS. Þanc, Þonc, thanks, favor, thought; akin to OS. thank favor, pleasure, thanks, D. & G. dank thanks, Icel. Þ\'94kk, Dan. tak, Sw. tack, Goth. Þagks thanks; -]
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
- queendom n.
- The dominion, condition, or character of a queen. Mrs.
- votaress n.
- A woman who is a votary. [See Votary, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Moonstar 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, The Moonstar, in The House of Life (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3692, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-house-of-life/the-moonstar.html, id L20949.
Form and metre
The Moonstar is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%).
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 ABBAACCA lovelinessA · stillB · goodwillB · dressA · assessA · loC · showC · votaressA
- 2 ABABBA sideA · surroundB · rideA · boundB · drown'dB · glorifiedA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Lady, I thank thee for thy loveliness, | 10 | /˘·····/˘˘ |
| Because my lady is more lovely still. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Glorying I gaze, and yield with glad goodwill | 10 | /˘······// |
| To thee thy tribute; by whose sweet-spun dress | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Of delicate life Love labours to assess | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| My Lady's absolute queendom; saying, 'Lo! | 11 | ·/˘/˘·/˘/˘· |
| How high this beauty is, which yet doth show | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| But as that beauty's sovereign votaress.' | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Lady, I saw thee with her, side by side; | 10 | /˘········ |
| And as, when night's fair fires their queen surround, | 10 | ·····/··˘/ |
| An emulous star too near the moon will ride,-- | 11 | ·/˘˘······· |
| Even so thy rays within her luminous bound | 10 | /······/˘· |
| Were traced no more; and by the light so drown'd, | 10 | ·········· |
| Lady, not thou but she was glorified. | 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.