Miss Loo
When thin-strewn memory I look through,I see most clearly poor Miss Loo,Her tabby cat, her cage of birds,Her nose, her hair--her muffled words,And how she'd open her green eyes,As if in some immense surprise,Whenever as we sat at teaShe made some small remark to me.
It's always drowsy summer whenFrom out the past she comes again;The westering sunshine in a poolFloats in her parlour still and cool;While the slim bird its lean wires shakes,As into piercing song it breaks;Till Peter's pale-green eyes ajarDream, wake; wake, dream, in one brief bar.
And I am sitting, dull and shy,And she with gaze of vacancy,And large hands folded on the tray,Musing the afternoon away;Her satin bosom heaving slowWith sighs that softly ebb and flow,And her plain face in such dismay,It seems unkind to look her way:Until all cheerful back will comeHer cheerful gleaming spirit home:And one would think that poor Miss LooAsked nothing else, if she had you.
Words in this poem
- westering a.
- Passing to the west.
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- ajar adv.
- Slightly turned or opened; as, the door was standing ajar. [OE. on char ajar, on the turn; AS. cerr, cyrr, turn, akin to G. kehren to turn, and to D. akerre. See Char.]
- vacancy n.
- The quality or state of being vacant; emptiness; hence, freedom from employment; intermission; leisure; idleness; listlessness. [Cf. F. vacance.]
- afternoon n.
- The part of the day which follows noon, between noon and evening.
- unkind a.
- Having no race or kindred; childless. [See Kin kindred.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Miss Loo is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Listeners and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #22569; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Walter de la Mare, Miss Loo, in The Listeners and Other Poems (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22569, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/de-la-mare-listeners/miss-loo.html, id L17066.
Form and metre
Miss Loo is 28 lines in 3 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABBCCDD, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.9 syllables. 1 line ends 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 AABBCCDD throughA · looA · birdsB · wordsB · eyesC · surpriseC · teaD · meD
- 2 AABBCCDD whenA · againA · poolB · coolB · shakesC · breaksC · ajarD · barD
- 3 --AABBAACCDD shy · vacancy · trayA · awayA · slowB · flowB · dismayA · wayA · comeC · homeC · looD · youD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When thin-strewn memory I look through, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I see most clearly poor Miss Loo, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Her tabby cat, her cage of birds, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Her nose, her hair--her muffled words, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And how she'd open her green eyes, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| As if in some immense surprise, | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| Whenever as we sat at tea | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| She made some small remark to me. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| It's always drowsy summer when | 8 | ·/·/˘/˘· |
| From out the past she comes again; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The westering sunshine in a pool | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| Floats in her parlour still and cool; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| While the slim bird its lean wires shakes, | 8 | ······/· |
| As into piercing song it breaks; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Till Peter's pale-green eyes ajar | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Dream, wake; wake, dream, in one brief bar. | 8 | ········ |
| And I am sitting, dull and shy, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And she with gaze of vacancy, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And large hands folded on the tray, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Musing the afternoon away; | 8 | /˘··˘/˘/ |
| Her satin bosom heaving slow | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| With sighs that softly ebb and flow, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And her plain face in such dismay, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| It seems unkind to look her way: | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Until all cheerful back will come | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Her cheerful gleaming spirit home: | 7 | ·/˘/˘/· |
| And one would think that poor Miss Loo | 8 | ········ |
| Asked nothing else, if she had you. | 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.