On the Departure of His Wife from Calcutta
Long is thy passage o'er the main,And native air alone can save!No friend thy weakness will sustain,But India is, for thee, a grave!Though winds arise, though surges swell,Maria, we must say farewell!
Oh! I bethink me of the time,When with each airy hope in view,In triumph to this fervid climeI bore a flowret nurs'd in dew!No fears did then my joy reprove,And it was boundless as my love!
Yet now to strangers I consignThy wounded mind, thy feeble health;A charge more dear than life resign,To watch a little worldly wealth.Duty compels me to remainBut oh! how heavy feels the chain!
My dear Maria! smile no more?This seeming patience makes me wild!So would'st thou once my peace restore,When, mourning for our only child,Each faint appeal was lost in air,Or turn'd my sadness to despair.
Alas! I only make thee grieve.And hark! the boat awaits below!They call aloud! and I must leave,The tears my folly forc'd to flow.Oh! had I but the time to prove,That mine are only fears of love!
Words in this poem
- fervid a.
- Very hot; burning; boiling. [L. fervidus, fr. fervere. See Fervent.]
- clime n.
- A climate; a tract or region of the earth. See Climate. [L. clima. See Climate.]
- consign v. i.
- To submit; to surrender or yield one's self.
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- sadness n.
- Heaviness; firmness.
- aloud adv.
- With a loud voice, or great noise; loudly; audibly. [Pref. a- + loud.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the Departure of His Wife from Calcutta is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #9998; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Matilda Betham, On the Departure of His Wife from Calcutta, in Poems (1808), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9998, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/betham-poems/on-the-departure-of-his-wife-from-calcutta.html, id L23522.
Form and metre
On the Departure of His Wife from Calcutta is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 4 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
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 ABABCC mainA · saveB · sustainA · graveB · swellC · farewellC
- 2 ABAB-- timeA · viewB · climeA · dewB · reprove · love
- 3 ABABCC consignA · healthB · resignA · wealthB · remainC · chainC
- 4 ABABCC moreA · wildB · restoreA · childB · airC · despairC
- 5 ABABCC grieveA · belowB · leaveA · flowB · proveC · loveC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Long is thy passage o'er the main, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And native air alone can save! | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| No friend thy weakness will sustain, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| But India is, for thee, a grave! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Though winds arise, though surges swell, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Maria, we must say farewell! | 8 | ˘/˘····/ |
| Oh! I bethink me of the time, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| When with each airy hope in view, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| In triumph to this fervid clime | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| I bore a flowret nurs'd in dew! | 8 | ········ |
| No fears did then my joy reprove, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And it was boundless as my love! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Yet now to strangers I consign | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Thy wounded mind, thy feeble health; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| A charge more dear than life resign, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| To watch a little worldly wealth. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Duty compels me to remain | 8 | /˘˘/··˘/ |
| But oh! how heavy feels the chain! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| My dear Maria! smile no more? | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| This seeming patience makes me wild! | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| So would'st thou once my peace restore, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| When, mourning for our only child, | 8 | ·/˘·//˘· |
| Each faint appeal was lost in air, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Or turn'd my sadness to despair. | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Alas! I only make thee grieve. | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| And hark! the boat awaits below! | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| They call aloud! and I must leave, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| The tears my folly forc'd to flow. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Oh! had I but the time to prove, | 8 | ········ |
| That mine are only fears of love! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
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