Separation
Stop! not to me, at this bitter departing,Speak of the sure consolations of time!Fresh be the wound, still-renewed be its smarting,So but thy image endure in its prime!
But if the steadfast commandment of NatureWills that remembrance should always decay;If the loved form and the deep-cherished featureMust, when unseen, from the soul fade away,--
Me let no half-effaced memories cumber;Fled, fled at once, be all vestige of thee!Deep be the darkness, and still be the slumber;Dead be the past and its phantoms to me!
Then, when we meet, and thy look strays toward me,Scanning my face and the changes wrought there;Who, let me say, is this stranger regards me,With the gray eyes, and the lovely brown hair?
Words in this poem
- commandment n.
- An order or injunction given by authority; a command; a charge; a precept; a mandate. [OF. commandement, F. commandement.]
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- cumber n.
- Trouble; embarrassment; distress. [Cf. encombre hindrance, impediment. See Cuber,v.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Separation 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, Separation, in Poems (1849–1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #54985, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/arnold-poems/separation.html, id L07015.
Form and metre
Separation is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is dactylic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 82% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.4 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in dactylic 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 departingA · timeB · smartingA · primeB
- 2 -A-A nature · decayA · feature · awayA
- 3 ABAB cumberA · theeB · slumberA · meB
- 4 ABAB meA · thereB · meA · hairB
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 dactylic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Stop! not to me, at this bitter departing, | 11 | ······/˘˘/˘ |
| Speak of the sure consolations of time! | 10 | ·····˘/˘·· |
| Fresh be the wound, still-renewed be its smarting, | 11 | ·····˘/··/˘ |
| So but thy image endure in its prime! | 10 | ···/˘˘/··· |
| But if the steadfast commandment of Nature | 11 | ···/·˘/˘·/˘ |
| Wills that remembrance should always decay; | 10 | ··˘/˘·/·˘/ |
| If the loved form and the deep-cherished feature | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Must, when unseen, from the soul fade away,-- | 10 | ··˘/····˘/ |
| Me let no half-effaced memories cumber; | 10 | ····˘//˘/˘ |
| Fled, fled at once, be all vestige of thee! | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| Deep be the darkness, and still be the slumber; | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Dead be the past and its phantoms to me! | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| Then, when we meet, and thy look strays toward me, | 11 | ··········· |
| Scanning my face and the changes wrought there; | 10 | /˘····/˘·· |
| Who, let me say, is this stranger regards me, | 11 | ······/˘˘/· |
| With the gray eyes, and the lovely brown hair? | 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.