An Evocation
When first upon my brow I felt your kiss,A sudden splendour filled me, like the rayThat promptly runs to crown the hills with blissOf purple dawn before the golden day,And ends the gloom it crosses at one leap.My brow was not unworthy your caress;For some foreboding joy had bade me keepFrom all affront the place your lips would bless.
Yet when your mouth upon my mouth did layThe royal touch, no rapture made me thrill,But I remained confused, ashamed, and still.Beneath your kiss, my queen without a stain,I felt,--like ghosts who rise at Judgment Day,--A throng of ancient kisses vile and vain!
Words in this poem
- splendour n.
- Great brightness; brilliant luster; brilliancy; as, the splendor ot the sun. B. Jonson. [L. fr. splendere to shine: cf. F. splendeur.]
- promptly adv.
- In a prompt manner.
- caress n.
- An act of endearment; any act or expression of affection; an embracing, or touching, with tenderness. [F. caresse, It. carezza, LL. caritia dearness, fr. L. carus dear. See Charity.]
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
An Evocation is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Henry Van Dyke, Project Gutenberg ebook #16229; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Van Dyke, An Evocation, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/an-evocation.html, id L22832.
Form and metre
An Evocation is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 98%).
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 ABABCDCD kissA · rayB · blissA · dayB · leapC · caressD · keepC · blessD
- 2 ABBCAC layA · thrillB · stillB · stainC · dayA · vainC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When first upon my brow I felt your kiss, | 10 | ·········· |
| A sudden splendour filled me, like the ray | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| That promptly runs to crown the hills with bliss | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Of purple dawn before the golden day, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And ends the gloom it crosses at one leap. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| My brow was not unworthy your caress; | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| For some foreboding joy had bade me keep | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| From all affront the place your lips would bless. | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Yet when your mouth upon my mouth did lay | 10 | ·········· |
| The royal touch, no rapture made me thrill, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| But I remained confused, ashamed, and still. | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘/·· |
| Beneath your kiss, my queen without a stain, | 10 | ·········· |
| I felt,--like ghosts who rise at Judgment Day,-- | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| A throng of ancient kisses vile and vain! | 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.