Absence
There is strange music in the stirring wind,When lowers the autumnal eve, and all aloneTo the dark wood's cold covert thou art gone,Whose ancient trees on the rough slope reclinedRock, and at times scatter their tresses sere.If in such shades, beneath their murmuring,Thou late hast passed the happier hours of spring,With sadness thou wilt mark the fading year;Chiefly if one, with whom such sweets at mornOr evening thou hast shared, afar shall stray.O Spring, return! return, auspicious May!But sad will be thy coming, and forlorn,If she return not with thy cheering ray,Who from these shades is gone, far, far away.
Words in this poem
- reclined a.
- Falling or turned downward; reclinate.
- sere n.
- Claw; talon. Chapman. [F. serre.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- sadness n.
- Heaviness; firmness.
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- 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,]
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Absence is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of William Lisle Bowles, Vol. 1 With Memoir, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes by George Gilfillan, Project Gutenberg ebook #18915; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Lisle Bowles, Absence, in The Poetical Works, Volume I (1789–1837), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18915, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bowles-sonnets/absence.html, id L09893.
Form and metre
Absence is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDEFEFGG, the pattern of the English sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 21% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other English sonnets, 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 ABABCDCDEFEFGG windA · aloneB · goneA · reclinedB · sereC · murmuringD · springC · yearD · mornE · strayF · mayE · forlornF · rayG · awayG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| There is strange music in the stirring wind, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| When lowers the autumnal eve, and all alone | 12 | ·/˘·˘/˘···˘/ |
| To the dark wood's cold covert thou art gone, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Whose ancient trees on the rough slope reclined | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Rock, and at times scatter their tresses sere. | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| If in such shades, beneath their murmuring, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Thou late hast passed the happier hours of spring, | 10 | ·····/˘/·· |
| With sadness thou wilt mark the fading year; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Chiefly if one, with whom such sweets at morn | 10 | /˘········ |
| Or evening thou hast shared, afar shall stray. | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| O Spring, return! return, auspicious May! | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| But sad will be thy coming, and forlorn, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| If she return not with thy cheering ray, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Who from these shades is gone, far, far away. | 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.