The Master Singer
A laughter in the diamond air, a music in the trembling grass;And one by one the words of light as joydrops through my being pass:"I am the sunlight in the heart, the silver moon-glow in the mind;My laughter runs and ripples through the wavy tresses of the wind.I am the fire upon the hills, the dancing flame that leads afarEach burning hearted wanderer, and I the dear and homeward star.A myriad lovers died for me, and in their latest yielded breathI woke in glory giving them immortal life though touched by death.They knew me from the dawn of time: if Hermes beats his rainbow wings,If Angus shakes his locks of light, or golden-haired Apollo sings,It matters not the name, the land: my joy in all the Gods abides:Even in the cricket in the grass some dimness of me smiles and hides.For joy of me the daystar glows, and in delight and wild desireThe peacock twilight rays aloft its plumes and blooms of shadowy fire,Where in the vastness too I burn through summer nights and ages long,And with the fiery-footed watchers shake in myriad dance and song."
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.]
- homeward a.
- Being in the direction of home; as, the homeward way.
- myriad n.
- The number of ten thousand; ten thousand persons or things. [Gr. myriade.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Master Singer 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, The Master Singer, in The Divine Vision and Other Poems (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36913, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/russell-divine-vision/the-master-singer.html, id L11521.
Form and metre
The Master Singer is 16 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is iambic octameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 15.9 syllables. 19% 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHH grassA · passA · mindB · windB · afarC · starC · breathD · deathD · wingsE · singsE · abidesF · hidesF · desireG · fireG · longH · songH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A laughter in the diamond air, a music in the trembling grass; | 16 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘··/˘· |
| And one by one the words of light as joydrops through my being pass: | 16 | ·············/˘· |
| "I am the sunlight in the heart, the silver moon-glow in the mind; | 16 | ···/·····/˘····· |
| My laughter runs and ripples through the wavy tresses of the wind. | 16 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘/˘··· |
| I am the fire upon the hills, the dancing flame that leads afar | 16 | ···/·····/˘···˘/ |
| Each burning hearted wanderer, and I the dear and homeward star. | 16 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘·····/˘· |
| A myriad lovers died for me, and in their latest yielded breath | 16 | ·/˘/˘······/˘/˘· |
| I woke in glory giving them immortal life though touched by death. | 16 | ···/˘/˘·˘/˘····· |
| They knew me from the dawn of time: if Hermes beats his rainbow wings, | 16 | ·········/˘··/·· |
| If Angus shakes his locks of light, or golden-haired Apollo sings, | 16 | ·/˘······/˘·˘/˘· |
| It matters not the name, the land: my joy in all the Gods abides: | 16 | ·/˘···········˘/ |
| Even in the cricket in the grass some dimness of me smiles and hides. | 16 | /··/˘····/˘····· |
| For joy of me the daystar glows, and in delight and wild desire | 17 | ·····/˘···˘/··˘/˘ |
| The peacock twilight rays aloft its plumes and blooms of shadowy fire, | 16 | ·/·/··˘/·····/˘/ |
| Where in the vastness too I burn through summer nights and ages long, | 16 | ···/˘····/˘··/˘· |
| And with the fiery-footed watchers shake in myriad dance and song." | 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.