Another Version of the Same
BOYS SING:Night! with all thine eyes look down!Darkness! weep thy holiest dew!Never smiled the inconstant moonOn a pair so true.Haste, coy hour! and quench all light,Lest eyes see their own delight!Haste, swift hour! and thy loved flightOft renew!
GIRLS SING:Fairies, sprites, and angels, keep her!Holy stars! permit no wrong!And return, to wake the sleeper,Dawn, ere it be long!O joy! O fear! there is not oneOf us can guess what may be doneIn the absence of the sun:--Come along!
BOYS:Oh! linger long, thou envious eastern lampIn the dampCaves of the deep!
GIRLS:Nay, return, Vesper! urge thy lazy car!Swift unbarThe gates of Sleep!
CHORUS:The golden gate of Sleep unbar,When Strength and Beauty, met together,Kindle their image, like a starIn a sea of glassy weather.May the purple mist of loveRound them rise, and with them move,Nourishing each tender gemWhich, like flowers, will burst from them.As the fruit is to the treeMay their children ever be!
Words in this poem
- sleeper n.
- One who sleeps; a slumberer; hence, a drone, or lazy person.
- envious a.
- Malignant; mischievous; spiteful. [OF. envios, F. envieux, fr. L. invidiosus, fr. invidia envy. See Envy, and cf. Invidious.]
- vesper n.
- The evening star; Hesper; Venus, when seen after sunset; hence, the evening. [L., the evening, the evening star, the west; akin to Gr. west. Cf. Hesperian, Vespers.]
- unbar v. t.
- To remove a bar or bars from; to unbolt; to open; as, to unbar a gate. Heber. [1st pref. un- + bar.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Another Version of the Same is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley — Volume 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #4798; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Percy Bysshe Shelley, Another Version of the Same, in Ode to the West Wind, and Other Poems (1816–1819), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4798, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shelley-later-poems/another-version-of-the-same.html, id L16452.
Form and metre
Another Version of the Same is 37 lines in 5 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.2 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 30% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
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 --A-ABBBA sing · down · dewA · moon · trueA · lightB · delightB · flightB · renewA
- 2 --A-ABBBA sing · her · wrongA · sleeper · longA · oneB · doneB · sunB · alongA
- 3 -AA- boys · lampA · dampA · deep
- 5 --A-ABBCCDD chorus · unbar · togetherA · star · weatherA · loveB · moveB · gemC · themC · treeD · beD
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| BOYS SING: | 2 | ·· |
| Night! with all thine eyes look down! | 7 | ······· |
| Darkness! weep thy holiest dew! | 8 | /˘··/˘˘· |
| Never smiled the inconstant moon | 9 | /˘·˘·˘/˘· |
| On a pair so true. | 5 | ····· |
| Haste, coy hour! and quench all light, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Lest eyes see their own delight! | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Haste, swift hour! and thy loved flight | 9 | ··/˘···˘· |
| Oft renew! | 3 | ·˘/ |
| GIRLS SING: | 2 | ·· |
| Fairies, sprites, and angels, keep her! | 8 | /˘··/˘·· |
| Holy stars! permit no wrong! | 7 | /˘·˘/·· |
| And return, to wake the sleeper, | 8 | ·˘/···/˘ |
| Dawn, ere it be long! | 5 | ····· |
| O joy! O fear! there is not one | 8 | ········ |
| Of us can guess what may be done | 8 | ········ |
| In the absence of the sun:-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Come along! | 3 | ·˘/ |
| BOYS: | 1 | · |
| Oh! linger long, thou envious eastern lamp | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| In the damp | 3 | ··· |
| Caves of the deep! | 4 | ···· |
| GIRLS: | 1 | · |
| Nay, return, Vesper! urge thy lazy car! | 10 | ·˘//˘··/˘· |
| Swift unbar | 3 | ·˘/ |
| The gates of Sleep! | 4 | ···· |
| CHORUS: | 2 | /˘ |
| The golden gate of Sleep unbar, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| When Strength and Beauty, met together, | 9 | ···/˘·˘/˘ |
| Kindle their image, like a star | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| In a sea of glassy weather. | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| May the purple mist of love | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Round them rise, and with them move, | 7 | ······· |
| Nourishing each tender gem | 7 | /˘˘·/˘· |
| Which, like flowers, will burst from them. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| As the fruit is to the tree | 7 | ······· |
| May their children ever be! | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
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.