Constancy
Dull were the days and sober,The mountains were brown and bare,For the season was sad OctoberAnd a dirge was in the air.
The mated starlings flew overTo the isles of the southern sea.She wept for her warrior lover--Wept and exclaimed: "Ah, me!
"Long years have I mourned my darlingIn his battle-bed at rest;And it's O, to be a starling,With a mate to share my nest!"
The angels pitied her sorrow,Restoring her warrior's life;And he came to her arms on the morrowTo claim her and take her to wife.
An aged lover--a portly,Bald lover, a trifle too stiff,With manners that would have been courtly,And would have been graceful, if--
If the angels had only restored himWithout the additional yearsThat had passed since the enemy bored himTo death with their long, sharp spears.
As it was, he bored her, and she rambledAway with her father's young groom,And the old lover smiled as he ambledContentedly back to the tomb.
Words in this poem
- dirge n.
- A piece of music of a mournful character, to accompany funeral rites; a funeral hymn. [Contraction of Lat. dirige, direct thou (imperative of dirigere), the first word of a funeral hymn (Lat. transl. of Psalm v. 8) beginning, "Dirige, Domine, in c]
- portly a.
- Having a dignified port or mien; of a noble appearance; imposing. [From Port demeanor.]
- courtly a.
- Relating or belonging to a court. [From Court.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Constancy is in the public domain. This text is taken from Shapes of Clay (1903), Project Gutenberg ebook #12658; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ambrose Bierce, Constancy, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/constancy.html, id L28104.
Form and metre
Constancy is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is anapaestic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
See other poems in anapaestic trimeter.
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 soberA · bareB · octoberA · airB
- 2 ABAB overA · seaB · loverA · meB
- 3 ABAB darlingA · restB · starlingA · nestB
- 4 ABAB sorrowA · lifeB · morrowA · wifeB
- 5 ABAB portlyA · stiffB · courtlyA · ifB
- 6 ABAB himA · yearsB · himA · spearsB
- 7 ABAB rambledA · groomB · ambledA · tombB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Dull were the days and sober, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The mountains were brown and bare, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| For the season was sad October | 9 | ··/˘··˘/˘ |
| And a dirge was in the air. | 7 | ······· |
| The mated starlings flew over | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| To the isles of the southern sea. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| She wept for her warrior lover-- | 9 | ····/˘˘/˘ |
| Wept and exclaimed: "Ah, me! | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| "Long years have I mourned my darling | 9 | ·····˘·/˘ |
| In his battle-bed at rest; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And it's O, to be a starling, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| With a mate to share my nest!" | 7 | ······· |
| The angels pitied her sorrow, | 8 | ·/˘/··/˘ |
| Restoring her warrior's life; | 8 | ˘/˘·/˘˘· |
| And he came to her arms on the morrow | 10 | ········/˘ |
| To claim her and take her to wife. | 8 | ········ |
| An aged lover--a portly, | 7 | ··/˘·/˘ |
| Bald lover, a trifle too stiff, | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
| With manners that would have been courtly, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| And would have been graceful, if-- | 7 | ····/˘· |
| If the angels had only restored him | 10 | ··/˘·/˘˘/· |
| Without the additional years | 8 | ···˘/˘˘· |
| That had passed since the enemy bored him | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| To death with their long, sharp spears. | 7 | ······· |
| As it was, he bored her, and she rambled | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Away with her father's young groom, | 8 | ˘/··/˘·· |
| And the old lover smiled as he ambled | 10 | ···/˘···/˘ |
| Contentedly back to the tomb. | 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.