The Romance of the Swan's Nest
So the dreams depart,So the fading phantoms flee,And the sharp realityNow must act its part.
Words in this poem
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Romance of the Swan's Nest is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Volume 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #33363; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Elizabeth Barrett Browning, The Romance of the Swan's Nest, in Lady Geraldine's Courtship, and Other Poems (1844), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #33363, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/barrett-browning-poems-2/the-romance-of-the-swan-s-nest.html, id L24819.
Form and metre
The Romance of the Swan's Nest is 4 lines in a single stanza.
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 A--A departA · flee · reality · partA
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| So the dreams depart, | 5 | ···˘/ |
| So the fading phantoms flee, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| And the sharp reality | 7 | ···˘/˘˘ |
| Now must act its part. | 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.