Longing
Come to me in my dreams, and thenBy day I shall be well again!For then the night will more than payThe hopeless longing of the day.
Come, as thou cam’st a thousand times,A messenger from radiant climes,And smile on thy new world, and beAs kind to others as to me!
Or, as thou never cam’st in sooth,Come now, and let me dream it truth;And part my hair, and kiss my brow,And say, My love! why sufferest thou?
Come to me in my dreams, and thenBy day I shall be well again!For then the night will more than payThe hopeless longing of the day.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- sooth a.
- True; faithful; trustworthy. [OE. soth, AS. s, for san; akin to OS. s, OHG. sand, Icel. sannr, Sw. sann, Dan. sand, Skr. sat, sant, real, genuine, present, being; properly p. pr. from a root]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Longing 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, Longing, in Poems (1849–1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #54985, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/arnold-poems/longing.html, id L07017.
Form and metre
Longing is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 31% 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 AABB thenA · againA · payB · dayB
- 2 AABB timesA · climesA · beB · meB
- 3 AABB soothA · truthA · browB · thouB
- 4 AABB thenA · againA · payB · dayB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Come to me in my dreams, and then | 8 | ········ |
| By day I shall be well again! | 8 | ······˘/ |
| For then the night will more than pay | 8 | ········ |
| The hopeless longing of the day. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Come, as thou cam’st a thousand times, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A messenger from radiant climes, | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| And smile on thy new world, and be | 8 | ········ |
| As kind to others as to me! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Or, as thou never cam’st in sooth, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Come now, and let me dream it truth; | 8 | ········ |
| And part my hair, and kiss my brow, | 8 | ········ |
| And say, My love! why sufferest thou? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Come to me in my dreams, and then | 8 | ········ |
| By day I shall be well again! | 8 | ······˘/ |
| For then the night will more than pay | 8 | ········ |
| The hopeless longing of the day. | 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.