Doubts
When she sleeps, her soul, I know,Goes a wanderer on the air,Wings where I may never go,Leaves her lying, still and fair,Waiting, empty, laid aside,Like a dress upon a chair....This I know, and yet I knowDoubts that will not be denied.
For if the soul be not in place,What has laid trouble in her face?And, sits there nothing ware and wiseBehind the curtains of her eyes,What is it, in the self's eclipse,Shadows, soft and passingly,About the corners of her lips,The smile that is essential she?
And if the spirit be not there,Why is fragrance in the hair?
Words in this poem
- passingly adv.
- Exceedingly. Wyclif.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Doubts is in the public domain. This text is taken from 1914, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #33902; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Rupert Brooke, Doubts, in 1914 and Other Poems (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #33902, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/brooke-1914/doubts.html, id L04736.
Form and metre
Doubts is 18 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.5 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 11% 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 ABABCBAC knowA · airB · goA · fairB · asideC · chairB · knowA · deniedC
- 2 AABBC-C- placeA · faceA · wiseB · eyesB · eclipseC · passingly · lipsC · she
- 3 AA thereA · hairA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When she sleeps, her soul, I know, | 7 | ······· |
| Goes a wanderer on the air, | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| Wings where I may never go, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Leaves her lying, still and fair, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Waiting, empty, laid aside, | 7 | /˘/˘·˘/ |
| Like a dress upon a chair.... | 7 | ······· |
| This I know, and yet I know | 7 | ······· |
| Doubts that will not be denied. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| For if the soul be not in place, | 8 | ········ |
| What has laid trouble in her face? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And, sits there nothing ware and wise | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Behind the curtains of her eyes, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| What is it, in the self's eclipse, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Shadows, soft and passingly, | 7 | /···/˘˘ |
| About the corners of her lips, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The smile that is essential she? | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| And if the spirit be not there, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Why is fragrance in the hair? | 7 | ··/˘··· |
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.