Exile
By the sad waters of separationWhere we have wandered by divers ways,I have but the shadow and imitationOf the old memorial days.
In music I have no consolation,No roses are pale enough for me;The sound of the waters of separationSurpasseth roses and melody.
By the sad waters of separationDimly I hear from an hidden placeThe sigh of mine ancient adoration:Hardly can I remember your face.
If you be dead, no proclamationSprang to me over the waste, gray sea:Living, the waters of separationSever for ever your soul from me.
No man knoweth our desolation;Memory pales of the old delight;While the sad waters of separationBear us on to the ultimate night.
Words in this poem
- divers a.
- Different in kind or species; diverse. [F. divers, L. diversus turned in different directions, different, p. p. of divertere. See Divert, and cf. Diverse.]
- dimly adv.
- In a dim or obscure manner; not brightly or clearly; with imperfect sight.
- desolation n.
- The act of desolating or laying waste; destruction of inhabitants; depopulation. [F. désolation, L. desolatio.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Exile 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, Exile, in The Poems of Ernest Dowson (1896–1899), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8497, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dowson-poems/exile.html, id L01633.
Form and metre
Exile is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 70%). 74% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.6 syllables. 11 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 40% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 ABAB separationA · waysB · imitationA · daysB
- 2 ABAB consolationA · meB · separationA · melodyB
- 3 ABAB separationA · placeB · adorationA · faceB
- 4 ABAB proclamationA · seaB · separationA · meB
- 5 ABAB desolationA · delightB · separationA · 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 trochaic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| By the sad waters of separation | 10 | ···/˘··˘/˘ |
| Where we have wandered by divers ways, | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| I have but the shadow and imitation | 11 | ····/···˘/˘ |
| Of the old memorial days. | 8 | ···˘/˘˘· |
| In music I have no consolation, | 10 | ·/˘····˘/˘ |
| No roses are pale enough for me; | 9 | ·/˘··˘/·· |
| The sound of the waters of separation | 11 | ····/˘··˘/˘ |
| Surpasseth roses and melody. | 9 | ˘/˘/˘·/˘˘ |
| By the sad waters of separation | 10 | ···/˘··˘/˘ |
| Dimly I hear from an hidden place | 9 | /˘····/˘· |
| The sigh of mine ancient adoration: | 10 | ····/˘·˘/˘ |
| Hardly can I remember your face. | 9 | /˘··˘/˘·· |
| If you be dead, no proclamation | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Sprang to me over the waste, gray sea: | 9 | ········· |
| Living, the waters of separation | 10 | /˘·/˘··˘/˘ |
| Sever for ever your soul from me. | 9 | /˘·/˘···· |
| No man knoweth our desolation; | 10 | ··/˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Memory pales of the old delight; | 9 | /˘˘····˘/ |
| While the sad waters of separation | 10 | ···/˘··˘/˘ |
| Bear us on to the ultimate 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.