White
Child of the pure unclouded browAnd dreaming eyes of wonder!Though time be fleet, and I and thouAre half a life asunder,Thy loving smile will surely hailThe love-gift of a fairy-tale.
I have not seen thy sunny face,Nor heard thy silver laughter;No thought of me shall find a placeIn thy young life’s hereafter—Enough that now thou wilt not failTo listen to my fairy-tale.
A tale begun in other days,When summer suns were glowing—A simple chime, that served to timeThe rhythm of our rowing—Whose echoes live in memory yet,Though envious years would say ‘forget.’
Come, hearken then, ere voice of dread,With bitter tidings laden,Shall summon to unwelcome bedA melancholy maiden!We are but older children, dear,Who fret to find our bedtime near.
Without, the frost, the blinding snow,The storm-wind’s moody madness—Within, the firelight’s ruddy glow,And childhood’s nest of gladness.The magic words shall hold thee fast:Thou shalt not heed the raving blast.
And though the shadow of a sighMay tremble through the story,For ‘happy summer days’ gone by,And vanish’d summer glory—It shall not touch with breath of baleThe pleasance of our fairy-tale.
Words in this poem
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- 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,]
- hereafter adv.
- In time to come; in some future time or state. [AS. hræfter.]
- chime n.
- The harmonious sound of bells, or of musical instruments. [OE. chimbe, prop., cymbal, OF. cymbe, cymble, in a dialectic form, chymble, F. cymbale, L. cymbalum, fr. Gr. Cymbal.]
- envious a.
- Malignant; mischievous; spiteful. [OF. envios, F. envieux, fr. L. invidiosus, fr. invidia envy. See Envy, and cf. Invidious.]
- bedtime n.
- The time to go to bed.
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- pleasance n.
- Pleasure; merriment; gayety; delight; kindness. [F. plaisance. See Please.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
White is in the public domain. This text is taken from Through the Looking-Glass, Project Gutenberg ebook #12; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Lewis Carroll, White, in Through the Looking-Glass (1871), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/carroll-looking-glass/white.html, id L16716.
Form and metre
White is 36 lines in 6 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.7 syllables. 12 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABABCC browA · wonderB · thouA · asunderB · hailC · taleC
- 2 ABABCC faceA · laughterB · placeA · hereafterB · failC · taleC
- 3 -A-ABB days · glowingA · time · rowingA · yetB · forgetB
- 4 ABABCC dreadA · ladenB · bedA · maidenB · dearC · nearC
- 5 ABABCC snowA · madnessB · glowA · gladnessB · fastC · blastC
- 6 ABABCC sighA · storyB · byA · gloryB · baleC · taleC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Child of the pure unclouded brow | 8 | ········ |
| And dreaming eyes of wonder! | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Though time be fleet, and I and thou | 8 | ········ |
| Are half a life asunder, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Thy loving smile will surely hail | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The love-gift of a fairy-tale. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I have not seen thy sunny face, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Nor heard thy silver laughter; | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| No thought of me shall find a place | 8 | ········ |
| In thy young life’s hereafter— | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Enough that now thou wilt not fail | 8 | ˘/······ |
| To listen to my fairy-tale. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| A tale begun in other days, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| When summer suns were glowing— | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| A simple chime, that served to time | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The rhythm of our rowing— | 8 | ·/˘·/˘/˘ |
| Whose echoes live in memory yet, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Though envious years would say ‘forget.’ | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Come, hearken then, ere voice of dread, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| With bitter tidings laden, | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| Shall summon to unwelcome bed | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| A melancholy maiden! | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| We are but older children, dear, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Who fret to find our bedtime near. | 8 | ····//·· |
| Without, the frost, the blinding snow, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The storm-wind’s moody madness— | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Within, the firelight’s ruddy glow, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And childhood’s nest of gladness. | 7 | ·/···/˘ |
| The magic words shall hold thee fast: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Thou shalt not heed the raving blast. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And though the shadow of a sigh | 8 | ···/···· |
| May tremble through the story, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| For ‘happy summer days’ gone by, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And vanish’d summer glory— | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| It shall not touch with breath of bale | 8 | ········ |
| The pleasance of our fairy-tale. | 8 | ·/˘·//˘· |
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.