R. W. D
O my vague desires!Ye lambent flames of the soul, her offspring fires:That are my soul herself in pangs sublimeRising and flying to heaven before her time:
What doth tempt you forthTo drown in the south or shiver in the frosty north?What seek ye or find ye in your random flying,Ever soaring aloft, soaring and dying?
Joy, the joy of flight!They hide in the sun, they flare and dance in the night;Gone up, gone out of sight: and ever againFollow fresh tongues of fire, fresh pangs of pain.
Ah! they burn my soul,The fires, devour my soul that once was whole:She is scattered in fiery phantoms day by day,But whither, whither? ay whither? away, away!
Could I but controlThese vague desires, these leaping flames of the soul:Could I but quench the fire: ah! could I stayMy soul that flieth, alas, and dieth away!
Words in this poem
- lambent a.
- Playing on the surface; touching lightly; gliding over. [L. lambens, -enlis, p. pr. of lambere to lick; akin to lap. See Lap to drink by licking.]
- flare v. i.
- To burn with an unsteady or waving flame; as, the candle flares. [Cf. Norw. flara to blaze, flame, adorn with tinsel, dial. Sw. flasa upp, and E. flash, or flacker.]
- whither adv.
- To what place; -- used interrogatively; as, whither goest thou [OE. whider. AS. hwider; akin to E. where, who; cf. Goth. hvadre whither. See Who, and cf. Hither, Thither.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
R. W. D is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Robert Bridges, Excluding the Eight Dramas, Project Gutenberg ebook #37804; 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 Bridges, R. W. D, in The Growth of Love, and Other Poems (1873–1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #37804, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bridges-shorter-poems/r-w-d.html, id L26194.
Form and metre
R. W. D is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
See 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 AABB desiresA · firesA · sublimeB · timeB
- 2 AABB forthA · northA · flyingB · dyingB
- 3 AABB flightA · nightA · againB · painB
- 4 AABB soulA · wholeA · dayB · awayB
- 5 AABB controlA · soulA · stayB · awayB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O my vague desires! | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| Ye lambent flames of the soul, her offspring fires: | 11 | ·/˘·····/·/ |
| That are my soul herself in pangs sublime | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
| Rising and flying to heaven before her time: | 11 | /˘·/˘·/···· |
| What doth tempt you forth | 5 | ····· |
| To drown in the south or shiver in the frosty north? | 13 | ······/˘··/˘· |
| What seek ye or find ye in your random flying, | 12 | ········/˘/˘ |
| Ever soaring aloft, soaring and dying? | 11 | /˘/˘˘//˘·/˘ |
| Joy, the joy of flight! | 5 | ····· |
| They hide in the sun, they flare and dance in the night; | 12 | ············ |
| Gone up, gone out of sight: and ever again | 10 | ·······/˘/ |
| Follow fresh tongues of fire, fresh pangs of pain. | 10 | /˘···/···· |
| Ah! they burn my soul, | 5 | ····· |
| The fires, devour my soul that once was whole: | 10 | ·/˘/······ |
| She is scattered in fiery phantoms day by day, | 12 | ··/˘·/˘/˘··· |
| But whither, whither? ay whither? away, away! | 12 | ·/˘/˘·/˘˘/˘/ |
| Could I but control | 5 | ···˘/ |
| These vague desires, these leaping flames of the soul: | 11 | ··˘/·/˘···· |
| Could I but quench the fire: ah! could I stay | 10 | ·····/···· |
| My soul that flieth, alas, and dieth 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.