Amantium Irae
When this, our rose, is faded,And these, our days, are done,In lands profoundly shadedFrom tempest and from sun:Ah, once more come together,Shall we forgive the past,And safe from worldly weatherPossess our souls at last?
Or in our place of shadowsShall still we stretch an handTo green, remembered meadows,Of that old pleasant land?And vainly there foregathered,Shall we regret the sun?The rose of love, ungathered?The bay, we have not won?
Ah, child! the world's dark margesMay lead to Nevermore,The stately funeral bargesSail for an unknown shore,And love we vow to-morrow,And pride we serve to-day:What if they both should borrowSad hues of yesterday?
Our pride! Ah, should we miss it,Or will it serve at last?Our anger, if we kiss it,Is like a sorrow past.While roses deck the garden,While yet the sun is high,Doff sorry pride for pardon,Or ever love go by.
Words in this poem
- profoundly adv.
- In a profound manner.
- 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,]
- nevermore adv.
- Never again; at no time hereafter. Testament of Love. Tyndale.
- borrow v. t.
- To receive from another as a loan, with the implied or expressed intention of returning the identical article or its equivalent in kind; -- the opposite of lend. [OE. borwen, AS. borgian, fr. borg, borh, pledge; akin to D. borg, G. borg; prob. fr. root of AS. beorgan to protect. Borough.]
- doff v. t.
- To put off, as dress; to divest one's self of; hence, figuratively, to put or thrust away; to rid one's self of. And made us doff our easy robes of peace. [Do + off. See Do, v. t., 7.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Amantium Irae 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, Amantium Irae, in The Poems of Ernest Dowson (1896–1899), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8497, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dowson-poems/amantium-irae.html, id L01650.
Form and metre
Amantium Irae is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDCD. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.8 syllables. 10 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 22% 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 ABABCDCD fadedA · doneB · shadedA · sunB · togetherC · pastD · weatherC · lastD
- 2 ABABCDCD shadowsA · handB · meadowsA · landB · foregatheredC · sunD · ungatheredC · wonD
- 3 ABABCDCD margesA · nevermoreB · bargesA · shoreB · morrowC · dayD · borrowC · yesterdayD
- 4 ABABCDCD itA · lastB · itA · pastB · gardenC · highD · pardonC · byD
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 this, our rose, is faded, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| And these, our days, are done, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| In lands profoundly shaded | 7 | ··˘/˘/˘ |
| From tempest and from sun: | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Ah, once more come together, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Shall we forgive the past, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| And safe from worldly weather | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Possess our souls at last? | 7 | ˘//˘··· |
| Or in our place of shadows | 8 | ··/˘··/· |
| Shall still we stretch an hand | 6 | ······ |
| To green, remembered meadows, | 7 | ··˘/˘/· |
| Of that old pleasant land? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And vainly there foregathered, | 9 | ·/˘·····˘ |
| Shall we regret the sun? | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| The rose of love, ungathered? | 7 | ······· |
| The bay, we have not won? | 6 | ······ |
| Ah, child! the world's dark marges | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| May lead to Nevermore, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The stately funeral barges | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Sail for an unknown shore, | 6 | ···˘/· |
| And love we vow to-morrow, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And pride we serve to-day: | 6 | ······ |
| What if they both should borrow | 7 | ·····/· |
| Sad hues of yesterday? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Our pride! Ah, should we miss it, | 8 | /˘······ |
| Or will it serve at last? | 6 | ······ |
| Our anger, if we kiss it, | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| Is like a sorrow past. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| While roses deck the garden, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| While yet the sun is high, | 6 | ······ |
| Doff sorry pride for pardon, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Or ever love go by. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
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.