The Interview
'So 'tis with us: for Jane would be my bride;'Shall coward fears then turn the bliss aside?'While thus he spoke he heard a gentle sound,That seem'd a jarring footstep on the ground:Asham'd of grief, he bade his eyes unclose,And shook with agitation as he rose;All unprepared the sweet surprise to bear;His heart beat high, for Jane herself was there.--Flusht was her cheek; she seem'd the full-blown flower,For warmth gave loveliness a double power;Round her fair brow the deep confusion ran,A waving handkerchief became her fan,Her lips, where dwelt sweet love and smiling ease,Puff'd gently back the warm assailing breeze.'I've travell'd all these weary miles with pain,'To see my native village once again;'And show my true regard for neighbour Hind;'Not like you, Walter, she was always kind.'
Words in this poem
- jane n.
- A coin of Genoa; any small coin. [LL. Janua Genoa; L. Genua, also OE. Jean.]
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- jarring a.
- Shaking; disturbing; discordant. [See Jar.]
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
- neighbour v. i.
- To dwell in the vicinity; to be a neighbor, or in the neighborhood; to be near.
- walter v. i.
- To roll or wallow; to welter. [Obs. or Prov. Eng. & Scot.] [See Welter.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Interview is in the public domain. This text is taken from Rural Tales, Ballads, and Songs, Project Gutenberg ebook #9093; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Bloomfield, The Interview, in Rural Tales, Ballads and Songs (1802), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9093, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bloomfield-tales/the-interview.html, id L09677.
Form and metre
The Interview is 18 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHII brideA · asideA · soundB · groundB · uncloseC · roseC · bearD · thereD · flowerE · powerE · ranF · fanF · easeG · breezeG · painH · againH · hindI · kindI
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| 'So 'tis with us: for Jane would be my bride; | 10 | ·········· |
| 'Shall coward fears then turn the bliss aside?' | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| While thus he spoke he heard a gentle sound, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| That seem'd a jarring footstep on the ground: | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| Asham'd of grief, he bade his eyes unclose, | 10 | ˘/······˘/ |
| And shook with agitation as he rose; | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| All unprepared the sweet surprise to bear; | 10 | ··˘/··˘/·· |
| His heart beat high, for Jane herself was there.-- | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Flusht was her cheek; she seem'd the full-blown flower, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| For warmth gave loveliness a double power; | 11 | ···/˘˘·/˘/˘ |
| Round her fair brow the deep confusion ran, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| A waving handkerchief became her fan, | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘˘/·· |
| Her lips, where dwelt sweet love and smiling ease, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Puff'd gently back the warm assailing breeze. | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| 'I've travell'd all these weary miles with pain, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| 'To see my native village once again; | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| 'And show my true regard for neighbour Hind; | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| 'Not like you, Walter, she was always kind.' | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
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.