Retrospect of Youth
I wander'd forth amid the flow'rs,And careless sipp'd the morning air;Nor hail'd the angel-winged hours,Nor saw that Happiness was there!Alas! I often since have weptThat Gratitude unconscious slept!
For Truth and Pity then were young,And walk'd in simple, narrow bounds;Affection's meek, assuasive tongue,Had sweet, but most capricious sounds.Once, wild with scornful pride, she fled,And only turn'd to seek the dead!
Oh! from a garden of delight,What fair memento did I bring!What amaranth of colours bright,To mark the promise of my spring?Behold this flow'r! its leaves are wet,With tears of lasting, vain regret!
Words in this poem
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- assuasive a.
- Mitigating; tranquilizing; soothing. [From assuage, as if this were fr. a supposed L. assuadere to persuade to; or from E. pref. ad + -suasive as in persuasive.]
- memento n.
- A hint, suggestion, token, or memorial, to awaken memory; that which reminds or recalls to memory; a souvenir. [L., remember, be mindful, imper. of meminisse to remember. See Mention.]
- amaranth n.
- An imaginary flower supposed never to fade.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Retrospect of Youth 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, Retrospect of Youth, in Poems (1808), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9998, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/betham-poems/retrospect-of-youth.html, id L23532.
Form and metre
Retrospect of Youth is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%).
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 -A-ABB flow'rs · airA · hours · thereA · weptB · sleptB
- 2 ABABCC youngA · boundsB · tongueA · soundsB · fledC · deadC
- 3 ABABCC delightA · bringB · brightA · springB · wetC · regretC
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 wander'd forth amid the flow'rs, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| And careless sipp'd the morning air; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Nor hail'd the angel-winged hours, | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| Nor saw that Happiness was there! | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Alas! I often since have wept | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| That Gratitude unconscious slept! | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| For Truth and Pity then were young, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And walk'd in simple, narrow bounds; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Affection's meek, assuasive tongue, | 8 | ˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Had sweet, but most capricious sounds. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Once, wild with scornful pride, she fled, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And only turn'd to seek the dead! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Oh! from a garden of delight, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| What fair memento did I bring! | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| What amaranth of colours bright, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To mark the promise of my spring? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Behold this flow'r! its leaves are wet, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| With tears of lasting, vain regret! | 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.