Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.
Lines 1-6
The blessed damozel lean'd out
From the gold bar of Heaven;
Her eyes were deeper than the depth
Of waters still'd at even;
She had three lilies in her hand,
And the stars in her hair were seven.
- We start the poem with a character: "the blessed damozel." Great—but what's a damozel and why is it blessed? It seems like we should figure that out, pronto. After all, this poem is called…"The Blessed Damozel" (check out "What's Up With the Title?" for more).
- We can say, then, that a "damozel" is an old, fancy way of saying "damsel," as in "a damsel in distress," as in a young, unmarried woman. So, a "blessed damozel" is really just a blessed young woman.
- Why is she blessed, though?
- Well, it seems like she's hanging out in heaven. After all, we're told in line 2 that she's leaning over a "gold bar of Heaven," which you should think of like a balcony railing. So, she's up there in heaven, leaning down—presumably toward the living folks who are back here on Earth.
- The speaker also lets us know that this young woman has deep eyes. He (or she—check out "Speaker" for more) busts out a simile to compare the damsel's eyes to deep water "still'd at even" (4). In other words, this would be water that falls still during the night ("even" here means evening).
- She's also holding three lilies, with seven stars in her hair.
- That's some get-up. In addition to making her seem pretty and otherworldly, this description also has a religious significance. The number of the lilies (three) can be understood as a reference to the Holy Trinity of the Father (God), the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit.
- The seven stars, meanwhile, references the description of Jesus Christ in Revelations 1.16.
- Together with the damsel's position in heaven, this description hits us with some pretty heavy religious overtones. We wonder if that's going to keep up in this poem.
- Before we head off to find out, we'll just note that we have both a regular meter and rhyme scheme here. We say a bunch more about that over in "Form and Meter." For now, let's read on…