Sunset on the Spire
All that I dreamBy day or nightLives in that streamOf lovely light.Here is the earth,And there is the spire;This is my hearth,And that is my fire.From the sun's domeI am shouted proofThat this is my home,And that is my roof.Here is my food,And here is my drink,And I am wooedFrom the moon's brink.And the days go over,And the nights end;Here is my lover,Here is my friend.All that ICould ever askWears that skyLike a thin gold mask.
Words in this poem
- brink n.
- The edge, margin, or border of a steep place, as of a precipice; a bank or edge, as of a river or pit; a verge; a border; as, the brink of a chasm. Also Fig. [Dan. brink edge, verge; akin to Sw. brink declivity, hill, Icel. brekka; cf. LG. brink a grassy hill, W. bryn hill, bryncyn hillock.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sunset on the Spire is in the public domain. This text is taken from Nets to Catch the Wind, Project Gutenberg ebook #6682; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Elinor Wylie, Sunset on the Spire, in Nets to Catch the Wind (1921), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6682, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wylie-nets/sunset-on-the-spire.html, id L12768.
Form and metre
Sunset on the Spire is 24 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 4.4 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 38% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic dimeter.
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 ABAB-C-CDEDEFGFG-H-HIJIJ dreamA · nightB · streamA · lightB · earth · spireC · hearth · fireC · domeD · proofE · homeD · roofE · foodF · drinkG · wooedF · brinkG · over · endH · lover · friendH · iI · askJ · skyI · maskJ
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 dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| All that I dream | 4 | ···· |
| By day or night | 4 | ···· |
| Lives in that stream | 4 | ···· |
| Of lovely light. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Here is the earth, | 4 | ···· |
| And there is the spire; | 5 | ····· |
| This is my hearth, | 4 | ···· |
| And that is my fire. | 5 | ····/ |
| From the sun's dome | 4 | ···· |
| I am shouted proof | 5 | ··/˘· |
| That this is my home, | 5 | ····· |
| And that is my roof. | 5 | ····· |
| Here is my food, | 4 | ···· |
| And here is my drink, | 5 | ····· |
| And I am wooed | 4 | ···· |
| From the moon's brink. | 4 | ···· |
| And the days go over, | 5 | ····· |
| And the nights end; | 4 | ···· |
| Here is my lover, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Here is my friend. | 4 | ···· |
| All that I | 3 | ··· |
| Could ever ask | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Wears that sky | 3 | ··· |
| Like a thin gold mask. | 5 | ····· |
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.