The Chilterns
Your hands, my dear, adorable,Your lips of tenderness--Oh, I've loved you faithfully and well,Three years, or a bit less.It wasn't a success.
Thank God, that's done! and I'll take the road,Quit of my youth and you,The Roman road to WendoverBy Tring and Lilley Hoo,As a free man may do.
For youth goes over, the joys that fly,The tears that follow fast;And the dirtiest things we do must lieForgotten at the last;Even Love goes past.
What's left behind I shall not find,The splendour and the pain;The splash of sun, the shouting wind,And the brave sting of rain,I may not meet again.
But the years, that take the best away,Give something in the end;And a better friend than love have they,For none to mar or mend,That have themselves to friend.
I shall desire and I shall findThe best of my desires;The autumn road, the mellow windThat soothes the darkening shires.And laughter, and inn-fires.
White mist about the black hedgerows,The slumbering Midland plain,The silence where the clover grows,And the dead leaves in the lane,Certainly, these remain.
And I shall find some girl perhaps,And a better one than you,With eyes as wise, but kindlier,And lips as soft, but true.And I daresay she will do.
Words in this poem
- adorable a.
- Deserving to be adored; worthy of divine honors. [L. adorabilis, fr. adorare: cf. F. adorable.]
- thank n.
- A expression of gratitude; an acknowledgment expressive of a sense of favor or kindness received; obligation, claim, or desert, or gratitude; -- now generally used in the plural. [AS. Þanc, Þonc, thanks, favor, thought; akin to OS. thank favor, pleasure, thanks, D. & G. dank thanks, Icel. Þ\'94kk, Dan. tak, Sw. tack, Goth. Þagks thanks; -]
- 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,]
- splendour n.
- Great brightness; brilliant luster; brilliancy; as, the splendor ot the sun. B. Jonson. [L. fr. splendere to shine: cf. F. splendeur.]
- midland a.
- Being in the interior country; distant from the coast or seashore; as, midland towns or inhabitants. Howell.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Chilterns 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, The Chilterns, in 1914 and Other Poems (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #33902, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/brooke-1914/the-chilterns.html, id L04748.
Form and metre
The Chilterns is 40 lines in 8 stanzas of 5 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABB, complete in 5 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 ABABB adorableA · tendernessB · wellA · lessB · successB
- 2 -A-AA road · youA · wendover · hooA · doA
- 3 ABABB flyA · fastB · lieA · lastB · pastB
- 4 ABABB findA · painB · windA · rainB · againB
- 5 ABABB awayA · endB · theyA · mendB · friendB
- 6 ABA-B findA · desiresB · windA · shires · firesB
- 7 ABABB hedgerowsA · plainB · growsA · laneB · remainB
- 8 -A-AA perhaps · youA · kindlier · trueA · doA
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Your hands, my dear, adorable, | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| Your lips of tenderness | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| --Oh, I've loved you faithfully and well, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Three years, or a bit less. | 6 | ······ |
| It wasn't a success. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Thank God, that's done! and I'll take the road, | 9 | ········· |
| Quit of my youth and you, | 6 | ······ |
| The Roman road to Wendover | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| By Tring and Lilley Hoo, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| As a free man may do. | 6 | ······ |
| For youth goes over, the joys that fly, | 8 | ········ |
| The tears that follow fast; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And the dirtiest things we do must lie | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| Forgotten at the last; | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| Even Love goes past. | 5 | /˘··· |
| What's left behind I shall not find, | 8 | ········ |
| The splendour and the pain; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The splash of sun, the shouting wind, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And the brave sting of rain, | 6 | ······ |
| I may not meet again. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| But the years, that take the best away, | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| Give something in the end; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And a better friend than love have they, | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| For none to mar or mend, | 6 | ······ |
| That have themselves to friend. | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| I shall desire and I shall find | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| The best of my desires; | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| The autumn road, the mellow wind | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| That soothes the darkening shires. | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| And laughter, and inn-fires. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| White mist about the black hedgerows, | 9 | ········· |
| The slumbering Midland plain, | 7 | ·/˘˘/·· |
| The silence where the clover grows, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And the dead leaves in the lane, | 7 | ······· |
| Certainly, these remain. | 6 | /˘˘·˘/ |
| And I shall find some girl perhaps, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And a better one than you, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| With eyes as wise, but kindlier, | 7 | ······· |
| And lips as soft, but true. | 6 | ······ |
| And I daresay she will do. | 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.