Vanitas
Beyond the need of weeping,Beyond the reach of hands,May she be quietly sleeping,In what dim nebulous lands?Ah, she who understands!
The long, long winter weather,These many years and days,Since she, and Death, together,Left me the wearier ways:And now, these tardy bays!
The crown and victor's token:How are they worth to-day?The one word left unspoken,It were late now to say:But cast the palm away!
For once, ah once, to meet her,Drop laurel from tired hands:Her cypress were the sweeter,In her oblivious lands:Haply she understands!
Yet, crossed that weary river,In some ulterior land,Or anywhere, or ever,Will she stretch out a hand?And will she understand?
Words in this poem
- oblivious a.
- Promoting oblivion; causing forgetfulness. [L.obliviosus: cf.F. oblivieux.]
- haply adv.
- By hap, chance, luck, or accident; perhaps; it may be.
- ulterior a.
- Situated beyond, or on the farther side; thither; -- correlative with hither. [L., comp. of ultra, ultro, beyond, on the other side, properly cases of an old adjective, formed with a comparative suffix, which is akin to OL. uls beyond, L. ]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Vanitas 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, Vanitas, in The Poems of Ernest Dowson (1896–1899), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8497, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dowson-poems/vanitas.html, id L01632.
Form and metre
Vanitas is 25 lines in 5 stanzas of 5 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABB. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.6 syllables. 9 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 ABABB weepingA · handsB · sleepingA · landsB · understandsB
- 2 ABABB weatherA · daysB · togetherA · waysB · baysB
- 3 ABABB tokenA · dayB · unspokenA · sayB · awayB
- 4 ABABB herA · handsB · sweeterA · landsB · understandsB
- 5 ABABB riverA · landB · everA · handB · understandB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Beyond the need of weeping, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Beyond the reach of hands, | 6 | ······ |
| May she be quietly sleeping, | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| In what dim nebulous lands? | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| Ah, she who understands! | 6 | ····˘/ |
| The long, long winter weather, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| These many years and days, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Since she, and Death, together, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Left me the wearier ways: | 6 | ······ |
| And now, these tardy bays! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The crown and victor's token: | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| How are they worth to-day? | 6 | ······ |
| The one word left unspoken, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| It were late now to say: | 6 | ······ |
| But cast the palm away! | 6 | ····˘/ |
| For once, ah once, to meet her, | 7 | ······· |
| Drop laurel from tired hands: | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| Her cypress were the sweeter, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| In her oblivious lands: | 7 | ··˘/˘˘· |
| Haply she understands! | 6 | /˘··˘/ |
| Yet, crossed that weary river, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| In some ulterior land, | 7 | ··˘/˘˘· |
| Or anywhere, or ever, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Will she stretch out a hand? | 6 | ······ |
| And will she understand? | 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.