Vain Resolves
I said: "There is an end of my desire:Now have I sown, and I have harvested,And these are ashes of an ancient fire,Which, verily, shall not be quickened.Now will I take me to a place of peace,Forget mine heart's desire;In solitude and prayer, work out my soul's release.
"I shall forget her eyes, how cold they were;Forget her voice, how soft it was and low,With all my singing that she did not hear,And all my service that she did not know.I shall not hold the merest memoryOf any days that were,Within those solitudes where I will fasten me."
And once she passed, and once she raised her eyes,And smiled for courtesy, and nothing said:And suddenly the old flame did uprise,And all my dead desire was quickened.Yea! as it hath been, it shall ever be,Most passionless, pure eyes!Which never shall grow soft, nor change, nor pity me.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- uprise v. i.
- To rise; to get up; to appear from below the horizon.
- passionless a.
- Void of passion; without anger or emotion; not easily excited; calm.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Vain Resolves 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, Vain Resolves, in The Poems of Ernest Dowson (1896–1899), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8497, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dowson-poems/vain-resolves.html, id L01637.
Form and metre
Vain Resolves is 21 lines in 3 stanzas of 7 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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 A-A-BAB desireA · harvested · fireA · quickened · peaceB · desireA · releaseB
- 2 AB-B-A- wereA · lowB · hear · knowB · memory · wereA · me
- 3 A-A-BAB eyesA · said · upriseA · quickened · beB · eyesA · meB
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 said: "There is an end of my desire: | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| Now have I sown, and I have harvested, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| And these are ashes of an ancient fire, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Which, verily, shall not be quickened. | 10 | ·/˘˘···/˘˘ |
| Now will I take me to a place of peace, | 10 | ·········· |
| Forget mine heart's desire; | 7 | ˘/··˘/˘ |
| In solitude and prayer, work out my soul's release. | 12 | ·/˘·······˘/ |
| "I shall forget her eyes, how cold they were; | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Forget her voice, how soft it was and low, | 10 | ˘/········ |
| With all my singing that she did not hear, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And all my service that she did not know. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| I shall not hold the merest memory | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| Of any days that were, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Within those solitudes where I will fasten me." | 12 | ···/˘····/˘· |
| And once she passed, and once she raised her eyes, | 10 | ·········· |
| And smiled for courtesy, and nothing said: | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| And suddenly the old flame did uprise, | 10 | ·/˘˘····/˘ |
| And all my dead desire was quickened. | 10 | ····˘/˘·/˘ |
| Yea! as it hath been, it shall ever be, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Most passionless, pure eyes! | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| Which never shall grow soft, nor change, nor pity me. | 11 | ·/······/˘· |
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.