A Requiem
Neobule, being tired,Far too tired to laugh or weep,From the hours, rosy and gray,Hid her golden face away.Neobule, fain of sleep,Slept at last as she desired!
Neobule! is it well,That you haunt the hollow lands,Where the poor, dead people stray,Ghostly, pitiful and gray,Plucking, with their spectral hands,Scentless blooms of asphodel?
Neobule, tired to deathOf the flowers that I threwOn her flower-like, fair feet,Sighed for blossoms not so sweet,Lunar roses pale and blue,Lilies of the world beneath.
Neobule! ah, too tiredOf the dreams and days above!Where the poor, dead people stray,Ghostly, pitiful and gray,Out of life and out of love,Sleeps the sleep which she desired.
Words in this poem
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- ghostly a.
- Relating to the soul; not carnal or secular; spiritual; as, a ghostly confessor. [OE. gastlich, gostlich, AS. gastlic. See Ghost.]
- scentless a.
- Having no scent.
- asphodel n.
- A general name for a plant of the genus Asphodelus. The asphodels are hardy perennial plants, several species of which are cultivated for the beauty of their flowers. [L. asphodelus, Gr. Daffodil.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Requiem is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems and Prose of Ernest Dowson, With a Memoir by Arthur Symons, Project Gutenberg ebook #8497; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ernest Dowson, A Requiem, in The Poems of Ernest Dowson (1896–1899), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8497, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dowson-poems/a-requiem.html, id L01638.
Form and metre
A Requiem is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABCCBA. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 ABCCBA tiredA · weepB · grayC · awayC · sleepB · desiredA
- 2 ABCCBA wellA · landsB · strayC · grayC · handsB · asphodelA
- 3 ABCCBA deathA · threwB · feetC · sweetC · blueB · beneathA
- 4 ABCCBA tiredA · aboveB · strayC · grayC · loveB · desiredA
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Neobule, being tired, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Far too tired to laugh or weep, | 9 | ··/˘˘···· |
| From the hours, rosy and gray, | 8 | ··/˘/˘·· |
| Hid her golden face away. | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Neobule, fain of sleep, | 6 | ······ |
| Slept at last as she desired! | 9 | ·····˘/˘˘ |
| Neobule! is it well, | 6 | ······ |
| That you haunt the hollow lands, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Where the poor, dead people stray, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Ghostly, pitiful and gray, | 7 | /˘/˘˘·· |
| Plucking, with their spectral hands, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Scentless blooms of asphodel? | 7 | /˘··/˘˘ |
| Neobule, tired to death | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Of the flowers that I threw | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| On her flower-like, fair feet, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Sighed for blossoms not so sweet, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Lunar roses pale and blue, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Lilies of the world beneath. | 7 | /˘····· |
| Neobule! ah, too tired | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Of the dreams and days above! | 7 | ······· |
| Where the poor, dead people stray, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Ghostly, pitiful and gray, | 7 | /˘/˘˘·· |
| Out of life and out of love, | 7 | ······· |
| Sleeps the sleep which she desired. | 9 | ·····˘/˘˘ |
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.