Flos Lunae
I would not alter thy cold eyes,Nor trouble the calm fount of speechWith aught of passion or surprise.The heart of thee I cannot reach:I would not alter thy cold eyes!
I would not alter thy cold eyes;Nor have thee smile, nor make thee weep:Though all my life droops down and dies,Desiring thee, desiring sleep,I would not alter thy cold eyes.
I would not alter thy cold eyes;I would not change thee if I might,To whom my prayers for incense rise,Daughter of dreams! my moon of night!I would not alter thy cold eyes.
I would not alter thy cold eyes,With trouble of the human heart:Within their glance my spirit lies,A frozen thing, alone, apart;I would not alter thy cold eyes.
Words in this poem
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Flos Lunae 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, Flos Lunae, in The Poems of Ernest Dowson (1896–1899), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8497, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dowson-poems/flos-lunae.html, id L01630.
Form and metre
Flos Lunae is 20 lines in 4 stanzas of 5 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABA. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 5% 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 ABABA eyesA · speechB · surpriseA · reachB · eyesA
- 2 ABABA eyesA · weepB · diesA · sleepB · eyesA
- 3 ABABA eyesA · mightB · riseA · nightB · eyesA
- 4 ABABA eyesA · heartB · liesA · apartB · eyesA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I would not alter thy cold eyes, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Nor trouble the calm fount of speech | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| With aught of passion or surprise. | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The heart of thee I cannot reach: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I would not alter thy cold eyes! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I would not alter thy cold eyes; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Nor have thee smile, nor make thee weep: | 8 | ········ |
| Though all my life droops down and dies, | 8 | ········ |
| Desiring thee, desiring sleep, | 10 | ˘/˘˘·˘/˘˘· |
| I would not alter thy cold eyes. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I would not alter thy cold eyes; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I would not change thee if I might, | 8 | ········ |
| To whom my prayers for incense rise, | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| Daughter of dreams! my moon of night! | 8 | /˘······ |
| I would not alter thy cold eyes. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I would not alter thy cold eyes, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With trouble of the human heart: | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Within their glance my spirit lies, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A frozen thing, alone, apart; | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘/ |
| I would not alter thy cold eyes. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
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.