The Lady to Her Guitar
For him who struck thy foreign string,I ween this heart has ceased to care;Then why dost thou such feelings bringTo my sad spirit--old Guitar?
It is as if the warm sunlightIn some deep glen should lingering stay,When clouds of storm, or shades of night,Have wrapt the parent orb away.
It is as if the glassy brookShould image still its willows fair,Though years ago the woodman's strokeLaid low in dust their Dryad-hair.
Even so, Guitar, thy magic toneHath moved the tear and waked the sigh:Hath bid the ancient torrent moan,Although its very source is dry.
Words in this poem
- ween v. i.
- To think; to imagine; to fancy. [OE. wenen, AS. w, fr. w hope, expectation, opinion; akin to D. waan, OFries. w, OS. & OHG. wan, G. wahn delusion, Icel. van hope, expectation, Goth. w, and D. w]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Lady to Her Guitar 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, The Lady to Her Guitar, in Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell (1846), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1019, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bronte-poems/the-lady-to-her-guitar.html, id L13280.
Form and metre
The Lady to Her Guitar is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 31% 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 A-A- stringA · care · bringA · guitar
- 2 ABAB sunlightA · stayB · nightA · awayB
- 3 -A-A brook · fairA · stroke · hairA
- 4 ABAB toneA · sighB · moanA · dryB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| For him who struck thy foreign string, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I ween this heart has ceased to care; | 8 | ········ |
| Then why dost thou such feelings bring | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To my sad spirit--old Guitar? | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| It is as if the warm sunlight | 8 | ······/· |
| In some deep glen should lingering stay, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When clouds of storm, or shades of night, | 8 | ········ |
| Have wrapt the parent orb away. | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| It is as if the glassy brook | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Should image still its willows fair, | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| Though years ago the woodman's stroke | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Laid low in dust their Dryad-hair. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Even so, Guitar, thy magic tone | 8 | /·˘/·/˘· |
| Hath moved the tear and waked the sigh: | 8 | ········ |
| Hath bid the ancient torrent moan, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Although its very source is dry. | 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.