Last Confessional
For all ill words that I have spoken,For all clear moods that I have broken,For all despite and hasty breath,Forgive me, Love, forgive me, Death.
Death, master of the great assize,Love, falling now to memories,You two alone I need to prove,Forgive me, Death, forgive me, Love.
For every tenderness undone,For pride when holiness was noneBut only easy charity,O Death, be pardoner to me.
For stubborn thought that would not makeMeasure of love’s thought for love’s sake,But kept a sullen difference,Take, Love, this laggard penitence.
For cloudy words too vainly spentTo prosper but in argument,When truth stood lonely at the gate,On your compassion, Death, I wait.
For all the beauty that escapedThis foolish brain, unsung, unshaped,For wonder that was slow to move,Forgive me, Death, forgive me, Love.
For love that kept a secret cruse,For life defeated of its dues,This latest word of all my breath--Forgive me, Love, forgive me, Death.
Words in this poem
- assize n.
- An assembly of knights and other substantial men, with a bailiff or justice, in a certain place and at a certain time, for public business. [OE. assise, asise, OF. assise, F. assises, assembly of judges, the decree pronounced by them, tax, impost, fr. assis, assise, p. p. of asseoir, fr. L. assid to ]
- undone a.
- Not done or performed; neglected. [Pref. un- not + done.]
- pardoner n.
- One who pardons.
- sullen a.
- Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
- laggard a.
- Slow; sluggish; backward. [Lag + -ard.]
- prosper v. t.
- To favor; to render successful. [F. prospérer v. i., or L. prosperare, v. i., or L. prosperare, v. t., fr. prosper or prosperus. See Prosperous.]
- unshaped a.
- Not shaped; shapeless; misshapen; deformed; ugly. [Pref. un- not + shaped, shapen.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Last Confessional is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, 1908-1919, Project Gutenberg ebook #51575; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Drinkwater, Last Confessional, in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/last-confessional.html, id L23018.
Form and metre
Last Confessional is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 5 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 AABB spokenA · brokenA · breathB · deathB
- 2 --AA assize · memories · proveA · loveA
- 3 AA-- undoneA · noneA · charity · me
- 4 AABB makeA · sakeA · differenceB · penitenceB
- 5 AABB spentA · argumentA · gateB · waitB
- 6 AABB escapedA · unshapedA · moveB · loveB
- 7 AABB cruseA · duesA · breathB · deathB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| For all ill words that I have spoken, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| For all clear moods that I have broken, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| For all despite and hasty breath, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Forgive me, Love, forgive me, Death. | 8 | ˘/··˘/·· |
| Death, master of the great assize, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Love, falling now to memories, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| You two alone I need to prove, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Forgive me, Death, forgive me, Love. | 8 | ˘/··˘/·· |
| For every tenderness undone, | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| For pride when holiness was none | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| But only easy charity, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| O Death, be pardoner to me. | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| For stubborn thought that would not make | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Measure of love’s thought for love’s sake, | 8 | /˘······ |
| But kept a sullen difference, | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Take, Love, this laggard penitence. | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| For cloudy words too vainly spent | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To prosper but in argument, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| When truth stood lonely at the gate, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| On your compassion, Death, I wait. | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| For all the beauty that escaped | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| This foolish brain, unsung, unshaped, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| For wonder that was slow to move, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Forgive me, Death, forgive me, Love. | 8 | ˘/··˘/·· |
| For love that kept a secret cruse, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For life defeated of its dues, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| This latest word of all my breath-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Forgive me, Love, forgive me, Death. | 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.