Aphrodite
Not unremembering we pass our exile from the starry ways:One timeless hour in time we caught from the long night of endless days.With solemn gaiety the stars danced far withdrawn on elfin heights:The lilac breathed amid the shade of green and blue and citron lights.But yet the close enfolding night seemed on the phantom verge of things,For our adoring hearts had turned within from all their wanderings:For beauty called to beauty, and there thronged at the enchanter's willThe vanished hours of love that burn within the Ever-living still.And sweet eternal faces put the shadows of the earth to rout,And faint and fragile as a moth your white hand fluttered and went out.Oh, who am I who tower beside this goddess of the twilight air?The burning doves fly from my heart, and melt within her bosom there.I know the sacrifice of old they offered to the mighty queen,And this adoring love has brought us back the beauty that has been.As to her worshippers she came descending from her glowing skies,So Aphrodite I have seen with shining eyes look through your eyes:One gleam of the ancestral face which lighted up the dawn for me:One fiery visitation of the love the gods desire in thee!
Words in this poem
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- timeless a.
- Done at an improper time; unseasonable; untimely.
- elfin a.
- Relating to elves.
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- aphrodite n.
- The Greek goddess of love, corresponding to the Venus of the Romans.
- visitation n.
- The act of visiting, or the state of being visited; access for inspection or examination. [L. visitatio: cf. F. visitation.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Aphrodite is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Divine Vision, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #36913; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: George William Russell, Aphrodite, in The Divine Vision and Other Poems (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36913, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/russell-divine-vision/aphrodite.html, id L11540.
Form and metre
Aphrodite is 18 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 89% of the lines. The metre is iambic octameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 15.8 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 6% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in iambic octameter.
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 AABBCCDDEEFF--GGHH waysA · daysA · heightsB · lightsB · thingsC · wanderingsC · willD · stillD · routE · outE · airF · thereF · queen · been · skiesG · eyesG · meH · theeH
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 octameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Not unremembering we pass our exile from the starry ways: | 16 | ········//···/˘· |
| One timeless hour in time we caught from the long night of endless days. | 16 | ·/˘/·········/˘· |
| With solemn gaiety the stars danced far withdrawn on elfin heights: | 16 | ·/˘/˘˘····˘/·/˘· |
| The lilac breathed amid the shade of green and blue and citron lights. | 16 | ·/··˘/·······/˘· |
| But yet the close enfolding night seemed on the phantom verge of things, | 16 | ····˘/˘····/˘··· |
| For our adoring hearts had turned within from all their wanderings: | 15 | ·/˘/˘········/˘ |
| For beauty called to beauty, and there thronged at the enchanter's will | 16 | ·/˘··/˘·····˘/˘· |
| The vanished hours of love that burn within the Ever-living still. | 15 | ·/˘/·······//˘· |
| And sweet eternal faces put the shadows of the earth to rout, | 16 | ··˘/˘/˘··/······ |
| And faint and fragile as a moth your white hand fluttered and went out. | 16 | ···/˘······/˘··· |
| Oh, who am I who tower beside this goddess of the twilight air? | 16 | ·····/˘/·/˘··/·· |
| The burning doves fly from my heart, and melt within her bosom there. | 16 | ·/˘··········/˘· |
| I know the sacrifice of old they offered to the mighty queen, | 16 | ···/˘····/˘··/˘· |
| And this adoring love has brought us back the beauty that has been. | 16 | ··˘/˘······/˘··· |
| As to her worshippers she came descending from her glowing skies, | 15 | ···/˘··˘/˘··/˘· |
| So Aphrodite I have seen with shining eyes look through your eyes: | 16 | ··˘/˘····/˘····· |
| One gleam of the ancestral face which lighted up the dawn for me: | 16 | ····˘/˘··/˘····· |
| One fiery visitation of the love the gods desire in thee! | 16 | ·/˘·˘/˘·····˘/·· |
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.