A Reminiscence
Yes, thou art gone! and never moreThy sunny smile shall gladden me;But I may pass the old church door,And pace the floor that covers thee,
May stand upon the cold, damp stone,And think that, frozen, lies belowThe lightest heart that I have known,The kindest I shall ever know.
Yet, though I cannot see thee more,'Tis still a comfort to have seen;And though thy transient life is o'er,'Tis sweet to think that thou hast been;
To think a soul so near divine,Within a form so angel fair,United to a heart like thine,Has gladdened once our humble sphere.
Words in this poem
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- 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,]
- gladden v. t.
- To make glad; to cheer; to please; to gratify; to rejoice; to exhilarate. [See Glad, v. t.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Reminiscence is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, Project Gutenberg ebook #1019; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë, A Reminiscence, in Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell (1846), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1019, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bronte-poems/a-reminiscence.html, id L13251.
Form and metre
A Reminiscence is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 moreA · meB · doorA · theeB
- 2 ABAB stoneA · belowB · knownA · knowB
- 4 ABAB divineA · fairB · thineA · sphereB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Yes, thou art gone! and never more | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Thy sunny smile shall gladden me; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| But I may pass the old church door, | 8 | ········ |
| And pace the floor that covers thee, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| May stand upon the cold, damp stone, | 8 | ········ |
| And think that, frozen, lies below | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The lightest heart that I have known, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The kindest I shall ever know. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Yet, though I cannot see thee more, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| 'Tis still a comfort to have seen; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And though thy transient life is o'er, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| 'Tis sweet to think that thou hast been; | 8 | ········ |
| To think a soul so near divine, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Within a form so angel fair, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| United to a heart like thine, | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| Has gladdened once our humble sphere. | 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.