Written Earlier
Adieu to old England! adieu to my friends!Though fortune and fame I pursue,On thus looking around me, I cannot conceal,How reluctant I bid them adieu!
My heart sinks within me, I sigh to the gale,Thus slowly receding from shore,While fancy still whispers some terrible tale,Ah, perhaps I may see it no more!
There all that I love, that I value, remain,That only awakens my fears,For will the same spot its dear inmates contain,On the lapse of two lingering years?
They may smile in good fortune, or weep in distress,I shall know not a word of their fate!No pain can I soften, no sorrow redress!I may come, when, alas! 'tis too late!
I can fly without fear to encounter the foe,To my earliest wish I am true;But I cannot unmov'd quit the friends that I love,Or bid my dear country adieu!
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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Written Earlier 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, Written Earlier, in Poems (1808), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9998, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/betham-poems/written-earlier.html, id L23520.
Form and metre
Written Earlier is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 98%).
See other poems in anapaestic common measure.
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 friends · pursueA · conceal · adieuA
- 2 ABAB galeA · shoreB · taleA · moreB
- 3 ABAB remainA · fearsB · containA · yearsB
- 4 ABAB distressA · fateB · redressA · lateB
- 5 -A-A foe · trueA · love · adieuA
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 anapaestic common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Adieu to old England! adieu to my friends! | 11 | ˘/··/˘˘/··· |
| Though fortune and fame I pursue, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| On thus looking around me, I cannot conceal, | 12 | ··/˘····/˘˘/ |
| How reluctant I bid them adieu! | 9 | ·˘/˘···˘/ |
| My heart sinks within me, I sigh to the gale, | 11 | ··········· |
| Thus slowly receding from shore, | 8 | ·/˘˘/˘·· |
| While fancy still whispers some terrible tale, | 10 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘· |
| Ah, perhaps I may see it no more! | 9 | ·˘/······ |
| There all that I love, that I value, remain, | 11 | ·······/˘˘/ |
| That only awakens my fears, | 8 | ·/˘˘/˘·· |
| For will the same spot its dear inmates contain, | 11 | ·······/·˘/ |
| On the lapse of two lingering years? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| They may smile in good fortune, or weep in distress, | 12 | ·····/˘···˘/ |
| I shall know not a word of their fate! | 9 | ········· |
| No pain can I soften, no sorrow redress! | 11 | ····/˘·/˘˘/ |
| I may come, when, alas! 'tis too late! | 9 | ····˘/··· |
| I can fly without fear to encounter the foe, | 11 | ·······˘/·· |
| To my earliest wish I am true; | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| But I cannot unmov'd quit the friends that I love, | 12 | ··˘/˘/······ |
| Or bid my dear country adieu! | 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.