Ad Manus Puellae
I was always a lover of ladies' hands!Or ever mine heart came here to tryst,For the sake of your carved white hands' commands;The tapering fingers, the dainty wrist;The hands of a girl were what I kissed.
I remember an hand like a fleur-de-lysWhen it slid from its silken sheath, her glove;With its odours passing ambergris:And that was the empty husk of a love.Oh, how shall I kiss your hands enough?
They are pale with the pallor of ivories;But they blush to the tips like a curled sea-shell:What treasure, in kingly treasuries,Of gold, and spice for the thurible,Is sweet as her hands to hoard and tell?
I know not the way from your finger-tips,Nor how I shall gain the higher lands,The citadel of your sacred lips:I am captive still of my pleasant bands,The hands of a girl, and most your hands.
Words in this poem
- tryst v. i.
- To mutually agree to meet at a certain place.
- dainty n.
- Value; estimation; the gratification or pleasure taken in anything. [OE. deinie, dainte, deintie, deyntee, OF. deintié delicacy, orig., dignity, honor, fr. L. dignitas, fr. dignus worthy. See Deign, and cf. Dignity.]
- 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,]
- pallor n.
- Paleness; want of color; pallidity; as, pallor of the complexion. Jer. Taylor. [L., fr. pallere to be or look pale. See Pale, a.]
- thurible n.
- A censer of metal, for burning incense, having various forms, held in the hand or suspended by chains; -- used especially at mass, vespers, and other solemn services. Fairholt.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ad Manus Puellae 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, Ad Manus Puellae, in The Poems of Ernest Dowson (1896–1899), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8497, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dowson-poems/ad-manus-puellae.html, id L01629.
Form and metre
Ad Manus Puellae is 20 lines in 4 stanzas of 5 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABB, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 73%). 85% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 5% 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 ABABB handsA · trystB · commandsA · wristB · kissedB
- 2 -A-A- lys · gloveA · ambergris · loveA · enough
- 3 -A--A ivories · shellA · treasuries · thurible · tellA
- 4 ABABB tipsA · landsB · lipsA · bandsB · handsB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I was always a lover of ladies' hands! | 11 | ··/˘·/˘·/·· |
| Or ever mine heart came here to tryst, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| For the sake of your carved white hands' commands; | 10 | ········˘/ |
| The tapering fingers, the dainty wrist; | 10 | ·/˘˘/˘·/˘· |
| The hands of a girl were what I kissed. | 10 | ·········˘ |
| I remember an hand like a fleur-de-lys | 11 | ·˘/˘······· |
| When it slid from its silken sheath, her glove; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| With its odours passing ambergris: | 9 | ··/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| And that was the empty husk of a love. | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| Oh, how shall I kiss your hands enough? | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| They are pale with the pallor of ivories; | 11 | ·····/˘·/˘˘ |
| But they blush to the tips like a curled sea-shell: | 11 | ··········· |
| What treasure, in kingly treasuries, | 9 | ·/˘·/˘/˘˘ |
| Of gold, and spice for the thurible, | 9 | ······/˘˘ |
| Is sweet as her hands to hoard and tell? | 9 | ········· |
| I know not the way from your finger-tips, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Nor how I shall gain the higher lands, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| The citadel of your sacred lips: | 10 | ·/˘···/˘˘· |
| I am captive still of my pleasant bands, | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| The hands of a girl, and most your hands. | 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.