Unrequited
Passion? not hers! who held me with pure eyes:One hand among the deep curls of her brow,I drank the girlhood of her gaze with sighs:She never sighed, nor gave me kiss or vow.
So have I seen a clear October pool,Cold, liquid topaz, set within the sereGold of the woodland, tremorless and cool,Reflecting all the heartbreak of the year.
Sweetheart? not she! whose voice was music-sweet;Whose face loaned language to melodious prayer.Sweetheart I called her.--When did she repeatSweet to one hope, or heart to one despair!
So have I seen a wildflower's fragrant headSung to and sung to by a longing bird;And at the last, albeit the bird lay dead,No blossom wilted, for it had not heard.
Words in this poem
- drank n.
- Wild oats, or darnel grass. See Drake a plant. [Cf. 3d Drake.]
- girlhood n.
- State or time of being a girl.
- sere n.
- Claw; talon. Chapman. [F. serre.]
- heartbreak n.
- Crushing sorrow or grief; a yielding to such grief.
- albeit conj.
- Even though; although; notwithstanding. [OE. al be although it be, where al is our all. Cf. Although.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Unrequited is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #7796; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Madison Julius Cawein, Unrequited, in Poems (1911), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/cawein-poems/unrequited.html, id L10862.
Form and metre
Unrequited is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, 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 10.0 syllables. 19% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 eyesA · browB · sighsA · vowB
- 2 ABAB poolA · sereB · coolA · yearB
- 3 ABAB sweetA · prayerB · repeatA · despairB
- 4 ABAB headA · birdB · deadA · heardB
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Passion? not hers! who held me with pure eyes: | 10 | /˘········ |
| One hand among the deep curls of her brow, | 10 | ·········· |
| I drank the girlhood of her gaze with sighs: | 10 | ···/······ |
| She never sighed, nor gave me kiss or vow. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| So have I seen a clear October pool, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Cold, liquid topaz, set within the sere | 10 | ·/˘/······ |
| Gold of the woodland, tremorless and cool, | 10 | ···/······ |
| Reflecting all the heartbreak of the year. | 10 | ˘/˘··/···· |
| Sweetheart? not she! whose voice was music-sweet; | 10 | /······/˘· |
| Whose face loaned language to melodious prayer. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Sweetheart I called her.--When did she repeat | 10 | /·······˘/ |
| Sweet to one hope, or heart to one despair! | 10 | ········˘/ |
| So have I seen a wildflower's fragrant head | 10 | ·····/·/˘· |
| Sung to and sung to by a longing bird; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And at the last, albeit the bird lay dead, | 11 | ····˘/˘···· |
| No blossom wilted, for it had not heard. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
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.