To a Young Lady on Her Birthday
The marching years go byAnd brush your garment's hem.The bandits by and byWill bid you go with them.
Trust not that caravan!Old vagabonds are they;They'll rob you if they can,And make believe it's play.
Make the old robbers giveOf all the spoils they bear,--Their truth, to help you live,--Their joy, to keep you fair.
Ask not for gauds nor gold,Nor fame that falsely rings;The foolish world grows oldCaring for all these things.
Make all your sweet demandsFor happiness alone,And the years will fill your handsWith treasures rarely known.
About this text
To a Young Lady on Her Birthday is in the public domain. This text is taken from Later Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #33417; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Bliss Carman, To a Young Lady on Her Birthday, in Later Poems (1921), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #33417, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/carman-later-poems/to-a-young-lady-on-her-birthday.html, id L10995.
Form and metre
To a Young Lady on Her Birthday is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic trimeter, 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 6.0 syllables. 30% 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 ABAB byA · hemB · byA · themB
- 2 ABAB caravanA · theyB · canA · playB
- 3 ABAB giveA · bearB · liveA · fairB
- 4 ABAB goldA · ringsB · oldA · thingsB
- 5 ABAB demandsA · aloneB · handsA · knownB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The marching years go by | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And brush your garment's hem. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The bandits by and by | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Will bid you go with them. | 6 | ······ |
| Trust not that caravan! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Old vagabonds are they; | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| They'll rob you if they can, | 6 | ······ |
| And make believe it's play. | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Make the old robbers give | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Of all the spoils they bear,-- | 6 | ······ |
| Their truth, to help you live,-- | 6 | ······ |
| Their joy, to keep you fair. | 6 | ······ |
| Ask not for gauds nor gold, | 6 | ······ |
| Nor fame that falsely rings; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The foolish world grows old | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Caring for all these things. | 6 | /˘···· |
| Make all your sweet demands | 6 | ····˘/ |
| For happiness alone, | 6 | ·/˘˘˘/ |
| And the years will fill your hands | 7 | ······· |
| With treasures rarely known. | 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.