Amor Profanus
Beyond the pale of memory,In some mysterious dusky grove;A place of shadows utterly,Where never coos the turtle-dove,A world forgotten of the sun:I dreamed we met when day was done,And marvelled at our ancient love.
Met there by chance, long kept apart,We wandered through the darkling glades;And that old language of the heartWe sought to speak: alas! poor shades!Over our pallid lips had runThe waters of oblivion,Which crown all loves of men or maids.
In vain we stammered: from afarOur old desire shone cold and dead:That time was distant as a star,When eyes were bright and lips were red.And still we went with downcast eyeAnd no delight in being nigh,Poor shadows most uncomforted.
Ah, Lalage! while life is ours,Hoard not thy beauty rose and white,But pluck the pretty, fleeting flowersThat deck our little path of light:For all too soon we twain shall treadThe bitter pastures of the dead:Estranged, sad spectres of the night.
Words in this poem
- darkling a.
- Becoming dark or gloomy; frowing.
- oblivion n.
- The act of forgetting, or the state of being forgotten; cessation of remembrance; forgetfulness. [L. oblivio, akin to oblivisci to forget: cf. OF. oblivion.]
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- twain a.
- Two;- nearly obsolete in common discourse, but used in poetry and burlesque. [OE. twein, tweien, tweyne, AS. twegen, masc. See Two.]
- 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
Amor Profanus 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, Amor Profanus, in The Poems of Ernest Dowson (1896–1899), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8497, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dowson-poems/amor-profanus.html, id L01624.
Form and metre
Amor Profanus is 28 lines in 4 stanzas of 7 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCCB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.4 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 21% 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 ABABCCB memoryA · groveB · utterlyA · doveB · sunC · doneC · loveB
- 2 ABABCCB apartA · gladesB · heartA · shadesB · runC · oblivionC · maidsB
- 3 ABABCCB afarA · deadB · starA · redB · eyeC · nighC · uncomfortedB
- 4 ABABCCB oursA · whiteB · flowersA · lightB · treadC · deadC · nightB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Beyond the pale of memory, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| In some mysterious dusky grove; | 9 | ··˘/˘˘/˘· |
| A place of shadows utterly, | 8 | ···/·/˘˘ |
| Where never coos the turtle-dove, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| A world forgotten of the sun: | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| I dreamed we met when day was done, | 9 | ··˘······ |
| And marvelled at our ancient love. | 10 | ·˘/˘·/˘/˘· |
| Met there by chance, long kept apart, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| We wandered through the darkling glades; | 9 | ·/˘˘··/˘· |
| And that old language of the heart | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| We sought to speak: alas! poor shades! | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Over our pallid lips had run | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| The waters of oblivion, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Which crown all loves of men or maids. | 8 | ········ |
| In vain we stammered: from afar | 9 | ···/˘˘·˘/ |
| Our old desire shone cold and dead: | 10 | /˘·˘/˘···· |
| That time was distant as a star, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| When eyes were bright and lips were red. | 8 | ········ |
| And still we went with downcast eye | 8 | ·····/·· |
| And no delight in being nigh, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Poor shadows most uncomforted. | 8 | ·/······ |
| Ah, Lalage! while life is ours, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Hoard not thy beauty rose and white, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But pluck the pretty, fleeting flowers | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| That deck our little path of light: | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| For all too soon we twain shall tread | 8 | ········ |
| The bitter pastures of the dead: | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Estranged, sad spectres of the night. | 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.