Babylon
The blue dusk ran between the streets: my love was winged within my mind,It left to-day and yesterday and thrice a thousand years behind.To-day was past and dead for me, for from to-day my feet had runThrough thrice a thousand years to walk the ways of ancient Babylon.On temple top and palace roof the burnished gold flung back the raysOf a red sunset that was dead and lost beyond a million days.The tower of heaven turns darker blue, a starry sparkle now begins;The mystery and magnificence, the myriad beauty and the sinsCome back to me. I walk beneath the shadowy multitude of towers;Within the gloom the fountain jets its pallid mist in lily flowers.The waters lull me and the scent of many gardens, and I hearFamiliar voices, and the voice I love is whispering in my ear.Oh real as in dream all this; and then a hand on mine is laid:The wave of phantom time withdraws; and that young Babylonian maid,One drop of beauty left behind from all the flowing of that tide,Is looking with the self-same eyes, and here in Ireland by my side.Oh light our life in Babylon, but Babylon has taken wings,While we are in the calm and proud procession of eternal things.
Words in this poem
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- magnificence n.
- The act of doing what magnificent; the state or quality of being magnificent. Acts xix. 27. [F. magnificence, L. magnificentia. See Magnific.]
- myriad n.
- The number of ten thousand; ten thousand persons or things. [Gr. myriade.]
- lull v. t.
- To cause to rest by soothing influences; to compose; to calm; to soothe; to quiet. [Akin to OD. lullen to sing to sleep, G. lullen, Dan. lulle, Sw. lulla; all of imitative origin. Cf. Loll, Lollard.]
- babylonian a.
- Of or pertaining to the real or to the mystical Babylon, or to the ancient kingdom of Babylonia; Chaldean.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Babylon 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, Babylon, in The Divine Vision and Other Poems (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36913, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/russell-divine-vision/babylon.html, id L11538.
Form and metre
Babylon 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 86%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 15.8 syllables. 22% 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 AA--BBCCDDEEFFGGHH mindA · behindA · run · babylon · raysB · daysB · beginsC · sinsC · towersD · flowersD · hearE · earE · laidF · maidF · tideG · sideG · wingsH · thingsH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The blue dusk ran between the streets: my love was winged within my mind, | 16 | ················ |
| It left to-day and yesterday and thrice a thousand years behind. | 16 | ·····/˘····/˘··· |
| To-day was past and dead for me, for from to-day my feet had run | 16 | ················ |
| Through thrice a thousand years to walk the ways of ancient Babylon. | 16 | ···/˘······/˘/˘· |
| On temple top and palace roof the burnished gold flung back the rays | 16 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘····· |
| Of a red sunset that was dead and lost beyond a million days. | 16 | ···/·········/˘· |
| The tower of heaven turns darker blue, a starry sparkle now begins; | 16 | ·/·/·/˘··/˘/˘·˘/ |
| The mystery and magnificence, the myriad beauty and the sins | 16 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘·/˘/˘··· |
| Come back to me. I walk beneath the shadowy multitude of towers; | 16 | ·········/˘/˘··/ |
| Within the gloom the fountain jets its pallid mist in lily flowers. | 16 | ·····/˘··/˘··/˘/ |
| The waters lull me and the scent of many gardens, and I hear | 15 | ·/˘······//˘··· |
| Familiar voices, and the voice I love is whispering in my ear. | 16 | ˘/˘/˘······/˘··· |
| Oh real as in dream all this; and then a hand on mine is laid: | 15 | ··············· |
| The wave of phantom time withdraws; and that young Babylonian maid, | 16 | ···/˘·˘/····˘/˘· |
| One drop of beauty left behind from all the flowing of that tide, | 15 | ···/˘······/··· |
| Is looking with the self-same eyes, and here in Ireland by my side. | 16 | ·/˘········/˘··· |
| Oh light our life in Babylon, but Babylon has taken wings, | 16 | ··/··/˘··/˘··/˘· |
| While we are in the calm and proud procession of eternal things. | 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.