In Three Days
So, I shall see her in three daysAnd just one night, but nights are short,Then two long hours, and that is morn.See how I come, unchanged, unworn!Feel, where my life broke off from thine,How fresh the splinters keep and fine--Only a touch and we combine!
Too long, this time of year, the days!But nights, at least the nights are short.As night shows where her one moon is,A hand's-breadth of pure light and bliss,So life's night gives my lady birthAnd my eyes hold her! What is worthThe rest of heaven, the rest of earth?
O loaded curls, release your storeOf warmth and scent, as once beforeThe tingling hair did, lights and darksOutbreaking into fairy sparks,When under curl and curl I priedAfter the warmth and scent inside,Through lights and darks how manifold--The dark inspired, the light controlled!As early Art embrowns the gold.
What great fear, should one say, "Three daysThat change the world might change as wellYour fortune; and if joy delays,Be happy that no worse befell!"What small fear, if another says,"Three days and one short night besideMay throw no shadow on your ways;But years must teem with change untried,With chance not easily defied,With an end somewhere undescried."No fear!--or if a fear be bornThis minute, it dies out in scorn.Fear? I shall see her in three daysAnd one night, now the nights are short,Then just two hours, and that is morn.
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,]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- outbreaking n.
- The act of breaking out.
- teem v. t.
- To think fit. G. Gifford. [See Tame, a., and cf. Beteem.]
- somewhere adv.
- In some place unknown or not specified; in one place or another.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In Three Days is in the public domain. This text is taken from Selections from the Poems and Plays of Robert Browning, Project Gutenberg ebook #28041; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Browning, In Three Days, in Selections from the Poems and Plays of Robert Browning (1864), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #28041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/browning-selections/in-three-days.html, id L25096.
Form and metre
In Three Days is 38 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 --AABBB days · short · mornA · unwornA · thineB · fineB · combineB
- 2 ----AAA days · short · is · bliss · birthA · worthA · earthA
- 3 AA--BBCCC storeA · beforeA · darks · sparks · priedB · insideB · manifoldC · controlledC · goldC
- 4 ABAB-CACCCDDA-D daysA · wellB · delaysA · befellB · says · besideC · waysA · untriedC · defiedC · undescriedC · bornD · scornD · daysA · short · mornD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| So, I shall see her in three days | 8 | ········ |
| And just one night, but nights are short, | 8 | ········ |
| Then two long hours, and that is morn. | 8 | ···/···· |
| See how I come, unchanged, unworn! | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Feel, where my life broke off from thine, | 8 | ········ |
| How fresh the splinters keep and fine-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Only a touch and we combine! | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| Too long, this time of year, the days! | 8 | ········ |
| But nights, at least the nights are short. | 8 | ········ |
| As night shows where her one moon is, | 8 | ········ |
| A hand's-breadth of pure light and bliss, | 8 | ········ |
| So life's night gives my lady birth | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And my eyes hold her! What is worth | 8 | ········ |
| The rest of heaven, the rest of earth? | 8 | ···/···· |
| O loaded curls, release your store | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Of warmth and scent, as once before | 8 | ········ |
| The tingling hair did, lights and darks | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Outbreaking into fairy sparks, | 8 | /·˘··/˘· |
| When under curl and curl I pried | 8 | ········ |
| After the warmth and scent inside, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Through lights and darks how manifold-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The dark inspired, the light controlled! | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| As early Art embrowns the gold. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| What great fear, should one say, "Three days | 8 | ········ |
| That change the world might change as well | 8 | ········ |
| Your fortune; and if joy delays, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Be happy that no worse befell!" | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| What small fear, if another says, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| "Three days and one short night beside | 8 | ······˘/ |
| May throw no shadow on your ways; | 8 | ···/···· |
| But years must teem with change untried, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| With chance not easily defied, | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| With an end somewhere undescried." | 7 | ···/··· |
| No fear!--or if a fear be born | 8 | ········ |
| This minute, it dies out in scorn. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Fear? I shall see her in three days | 8 | ········ |
| And one night, now the nights are short, | 8 | ········ |
| Then just two hours, and that is morn. | 8 | ···/···· |
On this poem
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.