The Favor of the Moment
Once more, then, we meetIn the circles of yore;Let our song be as sweetIn its wreaths as before,Who claims the first placeIn the tribute of song?The God to whose graceAll our pleasures belong.Though Ceres may spreadAll her gifts on the shrine,Though the glass may be redWith the blush of the vine,What boots--if the whileFall no spark on the hearth;If the heart do not smileWith the instinct of mirth?--From the clouds, from God's breastMust our happiness fall,'Mid the blessed, most blestIs the moment of all!Since creation beganAll that mortals have wrought,All that's godlike in manComes--the flash of a thought!For ages the stoneIn the quarry may lurk,An instant aloneCan suffice to the work;An impulse give birthTo the child of the soul,A glance stamp the worthAnd the fame of the whole.On the arch that she buildethFrom sunbeams on high,As Iris just gildeth,And fleets from the sky,So shineth, so gloomethEach gift that is ours;The lightning illumeth--The darkness devours!
Words in this poem
- yore adv.
- In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
- ceres n.
- The daughter of Saturn and Ops or Rhea, the goddess of corn and tillage. [L., Ceres, also corn, grain, akin to E. create.]
- suffice v. i.
- To be enough, or sufficient; to meet the need (of anything); to be equal to the end proposed; to be adequate. [OE. suffisen, OF. soufire, F. suffire (cf. suffisant, p.pr.), L. sufficere to put under, to substitute, to avail for, to suffice; sub under + facere to make. Se]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Favor of the Moment 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, The Favor of the Moment, in The Poems of Schiller: Third Period (1805), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/schiller-third-period/the-favor-of-the-moment.html, id L21824.
Form and metre
The Favor of the Moment is 40 lines in a single stanza. The metre is anapaestic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See other poems in anapaestic dimeter.
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 ABABCDCDEFEFG-G-HIHIJKJKLMLMNONONPNPNQNQ meetA · yoreB · sweetA · beforeB · placeC · songD · graceC · belongD · spreadE · shrineF · redE · vineF · whileG · hearth · smileG · mirth · breastH · fallI · blestH · allI · beganJ · wroughtK · manJ · thoughtK · stoneL · lurkM · aloneL · workM · birthN · soulO · worthN · wholeO · buildethN · highP · gildethN · skyP · gloomethN · oursQ · illumethN · devoursQ
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 anapaestic dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Once more, then, we meet | 5 | ····· |
| In the circles of yore; | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Let our song be as sweet | 6 | ·/···· |
| In its wreaths as before, | 6 | ······ |
| Who claims the first place | 5 | ····· |
| In the tribute of song? | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| The God to whose grace | 5 | ····· |
| All our pleasures belong. | 6 | ·//˘˘/ |
| Though Ceres may spread | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| All her gifts on the shrine, | 6 | ······ |
| Though the glass may be red | 6 | ······ |
| With the blush of the vine, | 6 | ······ |
| What boots--if the while | 5 | ····· |
| Fall no spark on the hearth; | 6 | ······ |
| If the heart do not smile | 6 | ······ |
| With the instinct of mirth?-- | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| From the clouds, from God's breast | 6 | ······ |
| Must our happiness fall, | 6 | ·//˘˘· |
| 'Mid the blessed, most blest | 6 | ···˘·· |
| Is the moment of all! | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Since creation began | 6 | ·˘/˘˘/ |
| All that mortals have wrought, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| All that's godlike in man | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Comes--the flash of a thought! | 6 | ······ |
| For ages the stone | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| In the quarry may lurk, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| An instant alone | 5 | ·/˘˘/ |
| Can suffice to the work; | 6 | ·˘/··· |
| An impulse give birth | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| To the child of the soul, | 6 | ······ |
| A glance stamp the worth | 5 | ····· |
| And the fame of the whole. | 6 | ······ |
| On the arch that she buildeth | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| From sunbeams on high, | 5 | ·/··· |
| As Iris just gildeth, | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| And fleets from the sky, | 5 | ····· |
| So shineth, so gloometh | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| Each gift that is ours; | 6 | ····/˘ |
| The lightning illumeth-- | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The darkness devours! | 6 | ·/˘˘/˘ |
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.