The Gardens of the Vatican
SWEET fountains, plashing with a dreamy fall,And mosses green, and tremulous veils of fern,And banks of blowing cyclamen, and stars,Blue as the skies, of myrtle blossoming,The twilight shade of ilex overheadO'erbubbling with sweet song of nightingale,With walks of strange, weird stillness, leading on'Mid sculptured fragments half to green moss gone,Or breaking forth amid the violet leavesWith some white gleam of an old world gone by.Ah! strange, sweet quiet! wilderness of calm,Gardens of dreamy rest, I long to layBeneath your shade the last long sigh, and say,Here is my home, my Lord, thy home and mine;And I, having searched the world with many a tear,At last have found thee and will stray no more.But vainly here I seek the GardenerThat Mary saw. These lovely halls beyond,That airy, sky-like dome, that lofty fane,Is as a palace whence the king is goneAnd taken all the sweetness with himself.Turn again, Jesus, and possess thine own!Come to thy temple once more as of old!Drive forth the money-changers, let it beA house of prayer for nations. Even so,Amen! Amen!
Words in this poem
- plashing n.
- The cutting or bending and intertwining the branches of small trees, as in hedges.
- dreamy a.
- Abounding in dreams or given to dreaming; appropriate to, or like, dreams; visionary.
- stillness n.
- The quality or state of being still; quietness; silence; calmness; inactivity.
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- gardener n.
- One who makes and tends a garden; a horticulturist.
- fane n.
- A temple; a place consecrated to religion; a church. [L. fanum a place dedicated to some deity, a sanctuary, fr. fari to speak. See Fame.]
- amen interj.
- An expression used at the end of prayers, and meaning, So be it. At the end of a creed, it is a solemn asseveration of belief. [L. amen, Gr. am certainly, truly.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Gardens of the Vatican is in the public domain. This text is taken from Religious Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #44778; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Harriet Beecher Stowe, The Gardens of the Vatican, in Religious Poems (1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #44778, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stowe-religious-poems/the-gardens-of-the-vatican.html, id L22729.
Form and metre
The Gardens of the Vatican is 26 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 ------AA---BB------A------ fall · fern · stars · blossoming · overhead · nightingale · onA · goneA · leaves · by · calm · layB · sayB · mine · tear · more · gardener · beyond · fane · goneA · himself · own · old · be · so · amen
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 |
|---|---|---|
| SWEET fountains, plashing with a dreamy fall, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| And mosses green, and tremulous veils of fern, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And banks of blowing cyclamen, and stars, | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| Blue as the skies, of myrtle blossoming, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| The twilight shade of ilex overhead | 10 | ·/···/˘/˘/ |
| O'erbubbling with sweet song of nightingale, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| With walks of strange, weird stillness, leading on | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| 'Mid sculptured fragments half to green moss gone, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Or breaking forth amid the violet leaves | 10 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| With some white gleam of an old world gone by. | 10 | ·········· |
| Ah! strange, sweet quiet! wilderness of calm, | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| Gardens of dreamy rest, I long to lay | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Beneath your shade the last long sigh, and say, | 10 | ·········· |
| Here is my home, my Lord, thy home and mine; | 10 | ·········· |
| And I, having searched the world with many a tear, | 11 | ··/˘····/·· |
| At last have found thee and will stray no more. | 10 | ·········· |
| But vainly here I seek the Gardener | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| That Mary saw. These lovely halls beyond, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| That airy, sky-like dome, that lofty fane, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Is as a palace whence the king is gone | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And taken all the sweetness with himself. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Turn again, Jesus, and possess thine own! | 10 | ·˘//˘·˘/·· |
| Come to thy temple once more as of old! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Drive forth the money-changers, let it be | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| A house of prayer for nations. Even so, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Amen! Amen! | 4 | ˘/˘/ |
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