Mary Trevellyn to Miss Roper
He has not come as yet; and now I must not expect it.You have written, you say, to friends at Florence, to see him,If he perhaps should return;--but that is surely unlikely.Has he not written to you?--he did not know your direction.Oh, how strange never once to have told him where you were going!Yet if he only wrote to Florence, that would have reached you.If what you say he said was true, why has he not done so?Is he gone back to Rome, do you think, to his Vatican marbles?--O my dear Miss Roper, forgive me! do not be angry!--You have written to Florence;--your friends would certainly find him.Might you not write to him?--but yet it is so little likely!I shall expect nothing more.--Ever yours, your affectionate Mary.
Words in this poem
- expect v. t.
- To wait for; to await. [L. expectatum, to look out for, await, expect; ex + out spectare to look at. See Spectacle.]
- wrote v. i.
- To root with the snout. See 1st Root. [OE. wroten. See 1st Root.]
- vatican n.
- A magnificent assemblage of buildings at Rome, near the church of St. Peter, including the pope's palace, a museum, a library, a famous chapel, etc. [L. Vaticanus, mons, or collis, Vaticanus, the Vatican hill, in Rome, on the western bank of the Tiber: cf. F. Vatican, It. Vaticano.]
- roper n.
- A maker of ropes. P. Plowman.
- angry a.
- Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Mary Trevellyn to Miss Roper is in the public domain. This text is taken from Amours De Voyage, Project Gutenberg ebook #1393; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Arthur Hugh Clough, Mary Trevellyn to Miss Roper, in Amours de Voyage (1858), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1393, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/clough-amours/mary-trevellyn-to-miss-roper-2.html, id L01610.
Form and metre
Mary Trevellyn to Miss Roper is 12 lines in a single stanza. 85% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 14.5 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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 -AB------AB- it · himA · unlikelyB · direction · going · you · so · marbles · angry · himA · likelyB · mary
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| He has not come as yet; and now I must not expect it. | 14 | ···········˘/· |
| You have written, you say, to friends at Florence, to see him, | 14 | ··/˘·····/˘··· |
| If he perhaps should return;--but that is surely unlikely. | 15 | ··˘/·˘/···/˘˘/˘ |
| Has he not written to you?--he did not know your direction. | 15 | ···/˘·······˘/˘ |
| Oh, how strange never once to have told him where you were going! | 15 | ···/˘········/˘ |
| Yet if he only wrote to Florence, that would have reached you. | 14 | ···/˘··/˘····· |
| If what you say he said was true, why has he not done so? | 14 | ·············· |
| Is he gone back to Rome, do you think, to his Vatican marbles?-- | 15 | ···········/˘/˘ |
| O my dear Miss Roper, forgive me! do not be angry!-- | 14 | ····/˘˘/····/˘ |
| You have written to Florence;--your friends would certainly find him. | 14 | ··/˘·/˘···/˘·· |
| Might you not write to him?--but yet it is so little likely! | 15 | ···········/˘/˘ |
| I shall expect nothing more.--Ever yours, your affectionate Mary. | 15 | ··˘//˘·/··˘/˘/˘ |
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