Nuptial Ode
Fair bride, attended by our blessing,Glad Hymen's flowery path 'gin pressing!We witnessed with enraptured eyeThe graces of thy soul unfolding,Thy youthful charms their beauty mouldingTo blossom for love's ecstasy.A happy fate now hovers round thee,And friendship yields without a smartTo that sweet god whose might hath bound thee;--He needs must have, he hath thy heart!
To duties dear, to trouble tender,Thy youthful breast must now surrender,Thy garland's summons must obey.Each toying infantine sensation,Each fleeting sport of youth's creation,Forevermore hath passed away;And Hymen's sacred bond now chainethWhere soft and fluttering love was shrined;Yet for a heart, where beauty reigneth,Of flowers alone that bond is twined.
The secret that can keep foreverIn verdant links, that naught can sever,The bridal garland, wouldst thou find?'Tis purity the heart pervading,The blossoms of a grace unfading,And yet with modest shame combined,Which, like the sun's reflection glowing,Makes every heart throb blissfully;--'Tis looks with mildness overflowing,And self-maintaining dignity!
Words in this poem
- moulding n.
- The act or process of shaping in or on a mold, or of making molds; the art or occupation of a molder.
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- infantine a.
- Infantile; childish. [Cf. F. enfantin.]
- throb v. i.
- To beat, or pulsate, with more than usual force or rapidity; to beat in consequence of agitation; to palpitate; -- said of the heart, pulse, etc. [OE. ; of uncertain origin; cf. Russ. trepete a trembling, and E. trepidation.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Nuptial Ode is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Schiller — Third period, Project Gutenberg ebook #6796; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Friedrich Schiller, Nuptial Ode, in The Poems of Schiller: Third Period (1805), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/schiller-third-period/nuptial-ode.html, id L21927.
Form and metre
Nuptial Ode is 30 lines in 3 stanzas of 10 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 AABCC-BDBD blessingA · pressingA · eyeB · unfoldingC · mouldingC · ecstasy · theeB · smartD · theeB · heartD
- 2 AABCCBDEDE tenderA · surrenderA · obeyB · sensationC · creationC · awayB · chainethD · shrinedE · reignethD · twinedE
- 3 AABCCBD-D- foreverA · severA · findB · pervadingC · unfadingC · combinedB · glowingD · blissfully · overflowingD · dignity
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Fair bride, attended by our blessing, | 9 | ··˘/˘·//˘ |
| Glad Hymen's flowery path 'gin pressing! | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| We witnessed with enraptured eye | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| The graces of thy soul unfolding, | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| Thy youthful charms their beauty moulding | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| To blossom for love's ecstasy. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| A happy fate now hovers round thee, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘·· |
| And friendship yields without a smart | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To that sweet god whose might hath bound thee;-- | 9 | ········· |
| He needs must have, he hath thy heart! | 8 | ········ |
| To duties dear, to trouble tender, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Thy youthful breast must now surrender, | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| Thy garland's summons must obey. | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Each toying infantine sensation, | 9 | ·/˘/˘˘˘/˘ |
| Each fleeting sport of youth's creation, | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| Forevermore hath passed away; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And Hymen's sacred bond now chaineth | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Where soft and fluttering love was shrined; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Yet for a heart, where beauty reigneth, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Of flowers alone that bond is twined. | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| The secret that can keep forever | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| In verdant links, that naught can sever, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| The bridal garland, wouldst thou find? | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| 'Tis purity the heart pervading, | 9 | ·/˘˘··˘/˘ |
| The blossoms of a grace unfading, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| And yet with modest shame combined, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Which, like the sun's reflection glowing, | 9 | ····˘/˘/˘ |
| Makes every heart throb blissfully;-- | 9 | ·/˘˘··/˘˘ |
| 'Tis looks with mildness overflowing, | 9 | ···/˘/˘·˘ |
| And self-maintaining dignity! | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘˘ |
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.