Song: From the Spanish of Iglesias
Alexis calls me cruel;The rifted crags that holdThe gathered ice of winter,He says, are not more cold.
When even the very blossomsAround the fountain's brim,And forest walks, can witnessThe love I bear to him.
I would that I could utterMy feelings without shame;And tell him how I love him,Nor wrong my virgin fame.
Alas! to seize the momentWhen heart inclines to heart,And press a suit with passion,Is not a woman's part.
If man comes not to gatherThe roses where they stand,They fade among their foliage;They cannot seek his hand.
About this text
Song: From the Spanish of Iglesias is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems by William Cullen Bryant, Project Gutenberg ebook #16341; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Cullen Bryant, Song: From the Spanish of Iglesias, in Poems (1821–1876), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16341, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bryant-poems/song-from-the-spanish-of-iglesias.html, id L07336.
Form and metre
Song: From the Spanish of Iglesias is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%).
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 -A-A cruel · holdA · winter · coldA
- 2 -A-A blossoms · brimA · witness · himA
- 3 -A-A utter · shameA · him · fameA
- 4 -A-A moment · heartA · passion · partA
- 5 -A-A gather · standA · foliage · handA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Alexis calls me cruel; | 7 | ˘/˘··/˘ |
| The rifted crags that hold | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The gathered ice of winter, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| He says, are not more cold. | 6 | ······ |
| When even the very blossoms | 7 | ·/·/˘/˘ |
| Around the fountain's brim, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And forest walks, can witness | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| The love I bear to him. | 6 | ······ |
| I would that I could utter | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| My feelings without shame; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And tell him how I love him, | 7 | ······· |
| Nor wrong my virgin fame. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Alas! to seize the moment | 7 | ˘/···/˘ |
| When heart inclines to heart, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| And press a suit with passion, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Is not a woman's part. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| If man comes not to gather | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The roses where they stand, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| They fade among their foliage; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| They cannot seek his hand. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
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.