A Ballad of Bath
Like a queen enchanted who may not laugh or weep,Glad at heart and guarded from change and care like ours,Girt about with beauty by days and nights that creepSoft as breathless ripples that softly shoreward sweep,Lies the lovely city whose grace no grief deflowers.Age and grey forgetfulness, time that shifts and veers,Touch not thee, our fairest, whose charm no rival nears,Hailed as England's Florence of one whose praise gives grace,Landor, once thy lover, a name that love reveres:Dawn and noon and sunset are one before thy face.
Dawn whereof we know not, and noon whose fruit we reap,Garnered up in record of years that fell like flowers,Sunset liker sunrise along the shining steepWhence thy fair face lightens, and where thy soft springs leap,Crown at once and gird thee with grace of guardian powersLoved of men beloved of us, souls that fame inspheres,All thine air hath music for him who dreams and hears;Voices mixed of multitudes, feet of friends that pace,Witness why for ever, if heaven's face clouds or clears,Dawn and noon and sunset are one before thy face.
Peace hath here found harbourage mild as very sleep:Not the hills and waters, the fields and wildwood bowers,Smile or speak more tenderly, clothed with peace more deep,Here than memory whispers of days our memories keepFast with love and laughter and dreams of withered hours.Bright were these as blossom of old, and thought endearsStill the fair soft phantoms that pass with smiles or tears,Sweet as roseleaves hoarded and dried wherein we traceStill the soul and spirit of sense that lives and cheers:Dawn and noon and sunset are one before thy face.
City lulled asleep by the chime of passing years,Sweeter smiles thy rest than the radiance round thy peers;Only love and lovely remembrance here have place.Time on thee lies lighter than music on men's ears;Dawn and noon and sunset are one before thy face.
Words in this poem
- enchanted a.
- Under the power of enchantment; possessed or exercised by enchanters; as, an enchanted castle.
- girt v. t.
- To gird; to encircle; to invest by means of a girdle; to measure the girth of; as, to girt a tree. [From Girt, n., cf. Girth, v.]
- breathless a.
- Spent with labor or violent action; out of breath.
- shoreward adv.
- Toward the shore.
- whereof adv.
- Of which; of whom; formerly, also, with which; -- used relatively.
- reap n.
- A bundle of grain; a handful of grain laid down by the reaper as it is cut. Wright. [Cf. AS. rip harvest. See Reap, v.]
- wildwood n.
- A wild or unfrequented wood. Also used adjectively; as, wildwood flowers; wildwood echoes. Burns.
- tenderly adv.
- In a tender manner; with tenderness; mildly; gently; softly; in a manner not to injure or give pain; with pity or affection; kindly.
- chime n.
- The harmonious sound of bells, or of musical instruments. [OE. chimbe, prop., cymbal, OF. cymbe, cymble, in a dialectic form, chymble, F. cymbale, L. cymbalum, fr. Gr. Cymbal.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Ballad of Bath is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems and Ballads (Third Series) Taken from The Collected Poetical Works of Algernon Charles Swinburne—Vol. III, Project Gutenberg ebook #18726; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Algernon Charles Swinburne, A Ballad of Bath, in Poems and Ballads (1866), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18726, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swinburne-poems-ballads/a-ballad-of-bath.html, id L07082.
Form and metre
A Ballad of Bath is 35 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAABCCDCD, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is trochaic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%). 85% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 12.0 syllables. 17% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic hexameter.
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 ABAABCCDCD weepA · oursB · creepA · sweepA · deflowersB · veersC · nearsC · graceD · reveresC · faceD
- 2 ABAABCCDCD reapA · flowersB · steepA · leapA · powersB · inspheresC · hearsC · paceD · clearsC · faceD
- 3 ABAABCCDCD sleepA · bowersB · deepA · keepA · hoursB · endearsC · tearsC · traceD · cheersC · faceD
- 4 AABAB yearsA · peersA · placeB · earsA · faceB
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 hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Like a queen enchanted who may not laugh or weep, | 12 | ···˘/˘······ |
| Glad at heart and guarded from change and care like ours, | 12 | ····/˘·····/ |
| Girt about with beauty by days and nights that creep | 12 | ····/˘······ |
| Soft as breathless ripples that softly shoreward sweep, | 12 | ··/˘/˘·/˘/˘· |
| Lies the lovely city whose grace no grief deflowers. | 13 | ··/˘/˘······· |
| Age and grey forgetfulness, time that shifts and veers, | 12 | ···˘/˘˘····· |
| Touch not thee, our fairest, whose charm no rival nears, | 12 | ···//˘···/˘· |
| Hailed as England's Florence of one whose praise gives grace, | 12 | ··/˘/˘······ |
| Landor, once thy lover, a name that love reveres: | 12 | /˘··/˘····˘/ |
| Dawn and noon and sunset are one before thy face. | 12 | ····/······· |
| Dawn whereof we know not, and noon whose fruit we reap, | 12 | ············ |
| Garnered up in record of years that fell like flowers, | 12 | /˘··/˘·····/ |
| Sunset liker sunrise along the shining steep | 12 | /···/·˘/·/˘· |
| Whence thy fair face lightens, and where thy soft springs leap, | 12 | ····/˘······ |
| Crown at once and gird thee with grace of guardian powers | 12 | ·········/˘/ |
| Loved of men beloved of us, souls that fame inspheres, | 12 | ···˘/······· |
| All thine air hath music for him who dreams and hears; | 12 | ····/˘······ |
| Voices mixed of multitudes, feet of friends that pace, | 12 | /˘··/˘······ |
| Witness why for ever, if heaven's face clouds or clears, | 12 | /˘··/·/˘···· |
| Dawn and noon and sunset are one before thy face. | 12 | ····/······· |
| Peace hath here found harbourage mild as very sleep: | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| Not the hills and waters, the fields and wildwood bowers, | 12 | ····/˘···/·/ |
| Smile or speak more tenderly, clothed with peace more deep, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| Here than memory whispers of days our memories keep | 12 | ··/˘/˘··//˘· |
| Fast with love and laughter and dreams of withered hours. | 12 | ····/˘···/˘/ |
| Bright were these as blossom of old, and thought endears | 12 | ····/˘····˘/ |
| Still the fair soft phantoms that pass with smiles or tears, | 12 | ····/˘······ |
| Sweet as roseleaves hoarded and dried wherein we trace | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| Still the soul and spirit of sense that lives and cheers: | 11 | ····/······ |
| Dawn and noon and sunset are one before thy face. | 12 | ····/······· |
| City lulled asleep by the chime of passing years, | 12 | /˘·˘/····/˘· |
| Sweeter smiles thy rest than the radiance round thy peers; | 12 | /˘·····/˘··· |
| Only love and lovely remembrance here have place. | 12 | /˘··/˘˘/˘··· |
| Time on thee lies lighter than music on men's ears; | 11 | ····/·/˘··· |
| Dawn and noon and sunset are one before thy face. | 12 | ····/······· |
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.