On the Cliffs, Newport
Tonight a shimmer of gold lies mantled o'erSmooth lovely Ocean. Through the lustrous gloomA savor steals from linden trees in bloomAnd gardens ranged at many a palace door.Proud walls rise here, and, where the moonbeams pourTheir pale enchantment down the dim coast-line,Terrace and lawn, trim hedge and flowering vine,Crown with fair culture all the sounding shore.How sweet, to such a place, on such a night,From halls with beauty and festival a-glare,To come distract and, stretched on the cool turf,Yield to some fond, improbable delight,While the moon, reddening, sinks, and all the airSighs with the muffled tumult of the surf!
Words in this poem
- tonight adv.
- On this present or coming night. [Prep. to+night]
- shimmer v. i.
- To shine with a tremulous or intermittent light; to shine faintly; to gleam; to glisten; to glimmer. [OE. schimeren, AS. scimerian; akin to scimian, sciman, to glitter, D. schemeren, G. schimmern, Dan. skimre, Sw. skimra, AS. scima a light, brightness, Icel. ski]
- glare v. i.
- To shine with a bright, dazzling light. [OE. glaren, gloren; cf. AS. glær amber, LG. glaren to glow or burn like coals, D. gloren to glimmer; prob. akin to E. glass.]
- distract a.
- Separated; drawn asunder. [L. distractus, p. p. of distrahere to draw asunder; dis- + trahere to draw. See Trace, and cf. Distraught.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the Cliffs, Newport is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #617; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Alan Seeger, On the Cliffs, Newport, in Poems (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #617, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seeger-poems/on-the-cliffs-newport.html, id L12960.
Form and metre
On the Cliffs, Newport is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 36% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 -AABBCCBDEFDEF o'er · gloomA · bloomA · doorB · pourB · lineC · vineC · shoreB · nightD · glareE · turfF · delightD · airE · surfF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Tonight a shimmer of gold lies mantled o'er | 11 | ˘/·/˘···/˘· |
| Smooth lovely Ocean. Through the lustrous gloom | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| A savor steals from linden trees in bloom | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And gardens ranged at many a palace door. | 10 | ·/˘··/·/˘· |
| Proud walls rise here, and, where the moonbeams pour | 10 | ·······/·· |
| Their pale enchantment down the dim coast-line, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Terrace and lawn, trim hedge and flowering vine, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Crown with fair culture all the sounding shore. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| How sweet, to such a place, on such a night, | 10 | ·········· |
| From halls with beauty and festival a-glare, | 10 | ···/˘·/˘·· |
| To come distract and, stretched on the cool turf, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Yield to some fond, improbable delight, | 10 | ····˘/˘˘˘/ |
| While the moon, reddening, sinks, and all the air | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Sighs with the muffled tumult of the surf! | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
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.