To the Memory of "Annie," Who Died at Milan, June 6, 1860
IN the fair gardens of celestial peaceWalketh a Gardener in meekness clad;Fair are the flowers that wreathe his dewy locks,And his mysterious eyes are sweet and sad.
Fair are the silent foldings of his robes,Falling with saintly calmness to his feet;And when he walks, each floweret to his willWith living pulse of sweet accord doth beat.
Every green leaf thrills to its tender heart,In the mild summer radiance of his eye;No fear of storm, or cold, or bitter frost,Shadows the flowerets when their sun is nigh.
And all our pleasant haunts of earthly loveAre nurseries to those gardens of the air;And his far-darting eye, with starry beam,Watcheth the growing of his treasures there.
We call them ours, o'erwept with selfish tears,O'erwatched with restless longings night and day;Forgetful of the high, mysterious rightHe holds to bear our cherished plants away.
But when some sunny spot in those bright fieldsNeeds the fair presence of an added flower,Down sweeps a starry angel in the night:At morn, the rose has vanished from our bower.
Where stood our tree, our flower, there is a grave!Blank, silent, vacant, but in worlds above,Like a new star outblossomed in the skies,The angels hail an added flower of love.
Dear friend, no more upon that lonely mound,Strewed with the red and yellow autumn leaf,Drop thou the tear, but raise the fainting eyeBeyond the autumn mists of earthly grief.
Thy garden rose-bud bore, within its breast,Those mysteries of color, warm and bright,That the bleak climate of this lower sphereCould never waken into form and light.
Yes, the sweet Gardener hath borne her hence,Nor must thou ask to take her thence away;Thou shalt behold her in some coming hour,Full-blossomed in his fields of cloudless day.
Words in this poem
- gardener n.
- One who makes and tends a garden; a horticulturist.
- meekness n.
- The quality or state of being meek.
- clad v.
- To clothe. Holland.
- saintly a.
- Like a saint; becoming a holy person.
- floweret n.
- A small flower; a floret.
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- forgetful a.
- Apt to forget; easily losing remembrance; as, a forgetful man should use helps to strengthen his memory.
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- waken v. i.
- To wake; to cease to sleep; to be awakened. [OE. waknen, AS. wæcnan; akin to Goth. gawaknan. See Wake, v. i.]
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- cloudless a.
- Without a cloud; clear; bright.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To the Memory of "Annie," Who Died at Milan, June 6, 1860 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, To the Memory of "Annie," Who Died at Milan, June 6, 1860, in Religious Poems (1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #44778, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stowe-religious-poems/to-the-memory-of-annie-who-died-at-milan-june-6-1860.html, id L22714.
Form and metre
To the Memory of "Annie," Who Died at Milan, June 6, 1860 is 40 lines in 10 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 -A-A peace · cladA · locks · sadA
- 2 -A-A robes · feetA · will · beatA
- 3 -A-A heart · eyeA · frost · nighA
- 4 -A-A love · airA · beam · thereA
- 5 -A-A tears · dayA · right · awayA
- 6 -A-A fields · flowerA · night · bowerA
- 7 -A-A grave · aboveA · skies · loveA
- 8 -A-A mound · leafA · eye · griefA
- 9 -A-A breast · brightA · sphere · lightA
- 10 -A-A hence · awayA · hour · dayA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| IN the fair gardens of celestial peace | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Walketh a Gardener in meekness clad; | 10 | /˘·/˘˘·/˘· |
| Fair are the flowers that wreathe his dewy locks, | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| And his mysterious eyes are sweet and sad. | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Fair are the silent foldings of his robes, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Falling with saintly calmness to his feet; | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| And when he walks, each floweret to his will | 11 | ·····/˘˘··· |
| With living pulse of sweet accord doth beat. | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| Every green leaf thrills to its tender heart, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| In the mild summer radiance of his eye; | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| No fear of storm, or cold, or bitter frost, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Shadows the flowerets when their sun is nigh. | 11 | /·········· |
| And all our pleasant haunts of earthly love | 10 | ··//˘··/˘· |
| Are nurseries to those gardens of the air; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And his far-darting eye, with starry beam, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Watcheth the growing of his treasures there. | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| We call them ours, o'erwept with selfish tears, | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| O'erwatched with restless longings night and day; | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Forgetful of the high, mysterious right | 10 | ˘/˘···˘/˘· |
| He holds to bear our cherished plants away. | 10 | ····//˘·˘/ |
| But when some sunny spot in those bright fields | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Needs the fair presence of an added flower, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Down sweeps a starry angel in the night: | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| At morn, the rose has vanished from our bower. | 11 | ·····/˘·//˘ |
| Where stood our tree, our flower, there is a grave! | 10 | ··/·//···· |
| Blank, silent, vacant, but in worlds above, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Like a new star outblossomed in the skies, | 10 | ·········· |
| The angels hail an added flower of love. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/·· |
| Dear friend, no more upon that lonely mound, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Strewed with the red and yellow autumn leaf, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Drop thou the tear, but raise the fainting eye | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Beyond the autumn mists of earthly grief. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Thy garden rose-bud bore, within its breast, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Those mysteries of color, warm and bright, | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| That the bleak climate of this lower sphere | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Could never waken into form and light. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Yes, the sweet Gardener hath borne her hence, | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Nor must thou ask to take her thence away; | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Thou shalt behold her in some coming hour, | 11 | ··˘/···/˘/˘ |
| Full-blossomed in his fields of cloudless day. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
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