Euphrosyne
I must not say that she was true,Yet let me say that she was fair;And they, that lovely face who view,They should not ask if truth be there.
Truth--what is truth? Two bleeding hearts,Wounded by men, by fortune tried,Outwearied with their lonely parts,Vow to beat henceforth side by side.
The world to them was stern and drear,Their lot was but to weep and moan;Ah! let them keep their faith sincere,For neither could subsist alone.
But souls whom some benignant breathHath charmed at birth from gloom and care,--These ask no love, these plight no faith,For they are happy as they are.
The world to them may homage make,And garlands for their forehead weave;And what the world can give, they take--But they bring more than they receive.
They shine upon the world; their earsTo one demand alone are coy:They will not give us love and tears,They bring us light and warmth and joy.
On one she smiled, and he was blest;She smiles elsewhere--we make a din!But ’twas not love which heaved her breast,Fair child! it was the bliss within.
Words in this poem
- henceforth adv.
- From this time forward; henceforward.
- drear n.
- Sadness; dismalness.
- subsist v. i.
- To be; to have existence; to inhere. [L. subsistere to stand still, stay, remain alive; sub under + sistere to stand, to cause to stand, from stare to stand: cf. F. subsister. See Stand.]
- benignant a.
- Kind; gracious; favorable. [LL. benignans, p. pr. of benignare, from L. benignus. See Benign.]
- plight v. t.
- To weave; to braid; to fold; to plait. [OE. pliten; probably through Old French, fr. LL. plectare, L. plectere. See Plait, Ply.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Euphrosyne is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #54985; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Matthew Arnold, Euphrosyne, in Poems (1849–1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #54985, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/arnold-poems/euphrosyne.html, id L07011.
Form and metre
Euphrosyne is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 6 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 7% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 trueA · fairB · viewA · thereB
- 2 ABAB heartsA · triedB · partsA · sideB
- 3 ABAB drearA · moanB · sincereA · aloneB
- 5 ABAB makeA · weaveB · takeA · receiveB
- 6 ABAB earsA · coyB · tearsA · joyB
- 7 ABAB blestA · dinB · breastA · withinB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I must not say that she was true, | 8 | ········ |
| Yet let me say that she was fair; | 8 | ········ |
| And they, that lovely face who view, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| They should not ask if truth be there. | 8 | ········ |
| Truth--what is truth? Two bleeding hearts, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Wounded by men, by fortune tried, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Outwearied with their lonely parts, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Vow to beat henceforth side by side. | 8 | ···//··· |
| The world to them was stern and drear, | 8 | ········ |
| Their lot was but to weep and moan; | 8 | ········ |
| Ah! let them keep their faith sincere, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| For neither could subsist alone. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘/ |
| But souls whom some benignant breath | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Hath charmed at birth from gloom and care,-- | 8 | ········ |
| These ask no love, these plight no faith, | 8 | ········ |
| For they are happy as they are. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The world to them may homage make, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And garlands for their forehead weave; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And what the world can give, they take-- | 8 | ········ |
| But they bring more than they receive. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| They shine upon the world; their ears | 8 | ········ |
| To one demand alone are coy: | 8 | ··˘/˘/·· |
| They will not give us love and tears, | 8 | ········ |
| They bring us light and warmth and joy. | 8 | ········ |
| On one she smiled, and he was blest; | 8 | ········ |
| She smiles elsewhere--we make a din! | 8 | ··/····· |
| But ’twas not love which heaved her breast, | 8 | ········ |
| Fair child! it was the bliss within. | 8 | ········ |
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.