The Separation
The budding bliss that full of promise grewThe chilling blight of separation knew.Scarce had he told his heart's unquiet case,And JANE to shun him ceas'd to mend her pace,And learnt to listen trembling as he spoke,And fondly judge his words beyond a joke;When, at the Goal that bounds our prospects here,Jane's widow'd Mistress ended her career:Blessings attended her divided store,The Mansion sold, (Jane's peaceful home no more,)A distant Village own'd her for its Queen,Another service, and another scene;But could another scene so pleasing prove,Twelve weary miles from Walter and from Love?The Maid grew thoughtful: yet to Fate resign'd,Knew not the worth of what she left behind.He, when at Eve releas'd from toil and heat,Soon miss'd the smiles that taught his heart to beat,
Words in this poem
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- unquiet v. t.
- To disquiet. Ld. Herbert. [1st pref. un- + quiet.]
- 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.]
- fondly adv.
- Foolishly. Verstegan (1673).
- career n.
- A race course: the ground run over. [F. carrière race course, high road, street, fr. L. carrus wagon. See Car.]
- mansion n.
- A dwelling place, -- whether a part or whole of a house or other shelter. [OF. mansion, F. maison, fr. L. mansio a staying, remaining, a dwelling, habitation, fr. manere, mansum, to stay, dwell; akin to Gr. Manse, Manor, Menagerie, Men]
- 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 Separation 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 Separation, in Rural Tales, Ballads and Songs (1802), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9093, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bloomfield-tales/the-separation.html, id L09672.
Form and metre
The Separation 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 93%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 6% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 grewA · knewA · caseB · paceB · spokeC · jokeC · hereD · careerD · storeE · moreE · queenF · sceneF · proveG · loveG · resign'dH · behindH · heatI · beatI
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The budding bliss that full of promise grew | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| The chilling blight of separation knew. | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Scarce had he told his heart's unquiet case, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| And JANE to shun him ceas'd to mend her pace, | 10 | ·········· |
| And learnt to listen trembling as he spoke, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And fondly judge his words beyond a joke; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| When, at the Goal that bounds our prospects here, | 10 | ······//˘· |
| Jane's widow'd Mistress ended her career: | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Blessings attended her divided store, | 10 | /˘˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| The Mansion sold, (Jane's peaceful home no more,) | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| A distant Village own'd her for its Queen, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Another service, and another scene; | 10 | ˘/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| But could another scene so pleasing prove, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Twelve weary miles from Walter and from Love? | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| The Maid grew thoughtful: yet to Fate resign'd, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Knew not the worth of what she left behind. | 10 | ·········· |
| He, when at Eve releas'd from toil and heat, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Soon miss'd the smiles that taught his heart to beat, | 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.