The Message
Do you not feel the white glow in your breast, my bird?That is the flame of love I send to you from afar:Not a wafted kiss, hardly a whispered word,But love itself that flies as a white-winged star.
Let it dwell there, let it rest there, at home in your heart:Wafted on winds of gold, it is Love itself, the Dove.Not the god whose arrows wounded with bitter smart,Nor the purple-fiery birds of death and love.
Do not ask for the hands of love or love's soft eyes:They give less than love who give all, giving what wanes.I give you the star-fire, the heart-way to Paradise,With no death after, no arrow with stinging pains.
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.]
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Message 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 Message, in The Divine Vision and Other Poems (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36913, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/russell-divine-vision/the-message.html, id L11532.
Form and metre
The Message is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is alexandrines, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 12.1 syllables.
See other poems in alexandrines.
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 ABAB birdA · afarB · wordA · starB
- 2 ABAB heartA · doveB · smartA · loveB
- 3 -A-A eyes · wanesA · paradise · painsA
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 alexandrines. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Do you not feel the white glow in your breast, my bird? | 12 | ············ |
| That is the flame of love I send to you from afar: | 13 | ···········˘/ |
| Not a wafted kiss, hardly a whispered word, | 11 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘· |
| But love itself that flies as a white-winged star. | 11 | ··˘/······· |
| Let it dwell there, let it rest there, at home in your heart: | 13 | ············· |
| Wafted on winds of gold, it is Love itself, the Dove. | 13 | /˘·······˘/·· |
| Not the god whose arrows wounded with bitter smart, | 12 | ····/˘/˘·/˘· |
| Nor the purple-fiery birds of death and love. | 11 | ··/˘/˘····· |
| Do not ask for the hands of love or love's soft eyes: | 12 | ············ |
| They give less than love who give all, giving what wanes. | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| I give you the star-fire, the heart-way to Paradise, | 13 | ·····/····/˘· |
| With no death after, no arrow with stinging pains. | 12 | ······/˘·/˘· |
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.