Love
Love is a breach in the walls, a broken gate,Where that comes in that shall not go again;Love sells the proud heart's citadel to Fate.They have known shame, who love unloved. Even then,When two mouths, thirsty each for each, find slaking,And agony's forgot, and hushed the cryingOf credulous hearts, in heaven--such are but takingTheir own poor dreams within their arms, and lyingEach in his lonely night, each with a ghost.Some share that night. But they know, love grows colder,Grows false and dull, that was sweet lies at most.Astonishment is no more in hand or shoulder,But darkens, and dies out from kiss to kiss.All this is love; and all love is but this.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- ghost n.
- The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
- astonishment n.
- The condition of one who is stunned. Hence: Numbness; loss of sensation; stupor; loss of sense. [Cf. OF. est, F. étonnement.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Love 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, Love, in 1914 and Other Poems (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #33902, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/brooke-1914/love.html, id L04746.
Form and metre
Love 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 79%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.4 syllables. 5 lines end 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 gateA · againB · fateA · thenB · slakingC · cryingD · takingC · lyingD · ghostE · colderF · mostE · shoulderF · kissG · thisG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Love is a breach in the walls, a broken gate, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| Where that comes in that shall not go again; | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Love sells the proud heart's citadel to Fate. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| They have known shame, who love unloved. Even then, | 10 | ······˘//· |
| When two mouths, thirsty each for each, find slaking, | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| And agony's forgot, and hushed the crying | 10 | ·/˘˘/···/˘ |
| Of credulous hearts, in heaven--such are but taking | 11 | ·/˘··/···/˘ |
| Their own poor dreams within their arms, and lying | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Each in his lonely night, each with a ghost. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Some share that night. But they know, love grows colder, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Grows false and dull, that was sweet lies at most. | 10 | ·········· |
| Astonishment is no more in hand or shoulder, | 11 | ˘/˘······/˘ |
| But darkens, and dies out from kiss to kiss. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| All this is love; and all love is but this. | 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.