Pierrot
Pierrot alone,And then Pierrette,And then a story to forget.
Pierrot alone.Pierrette among the apple boughsCome down and take a Pierrot’s kiss,The moon is white upon your brows,Pierrette among the apple boughs,Your lips are cold, and I would setA rose upon your lips, Pierrette,A rosy kiss,Pierrette, Pierrette.
And then Pierrette.I’ve left my apple boughs, Pierrot,A shadow now is on my face,But still my lips are cold, and ONo rose is on my lips, Pierrot,You laugh, and then you pass awayAmong the scented leaves of May,And on my faceThe shadows stay.
And then a story to forget.The petals fall upon the grass,And I am crying in the dark,The clouds above the white moon pass--My tears are falling on the grass;Pierrot, Pierrot, I heard your vowsAnd left my blossomed apple boughs,And sorrows darkAre on my brows.
About this text
Pierrot 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, Pierrot, in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/pierrot.html, id L23063.
Form and metre
Pierrot is 30 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%).
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 -AA alone · pierretteA · forgetA
- 2 -ABAACCBC alone · boughsA · kissB · browsA · boughsA · setC · pierretteC · kissB · pierretteC
- 3 -AB-ACCBC pierrette · pierrotA · faceB · o · pierrotA · awayC · mayC · faceB · stayC
- 4 -ABAACCBC forget · grassA · darkB · passA · grassA · vowsC · boughsC · darkB · browsC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Pierrot alone, | 4 | ··˘/ |
| And then Pierrette, | 4 | ···· |
| And then a story to forget. | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Pierrot alone. | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Pierrette among the apple boughs | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Come down and take a Pierrot’s kiss, | 8 | ········ |
| The moon is white upon your brows, | 8 | ········ |
| Pierrette among the apple boughs, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Your lips are cold, and I would set | 8 | ········ |
| A rose upon your lips, Pierrette, | 8 | ········ |
| A rosy kiss, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Pierrette, Pierrette. | 4 | ···· |
| And then Pierrette. | 4 | ···· |
| I’ve left my apple boughs, Pierrot, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A shadow now is on my face, | 8 | ·/······ |
| But still my lips are cold, and O | 8 | ········ |
| No rose is on my lips, Pierrot, | 8 | ········ |
| You laugh, and then you pass away | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Among the scented leaves of May, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And on my face | 4 | ···· |
| The shadows stay. | 4 | ·/·· |
| And then a story to forget. | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The petals fall upon the grass, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And I am crying in the dark, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The clouds above the white moon pass-- | 8 | ········ |
| My tears are falling on the grass; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Pierrot, Pierrot, I heard your vows | 8 | ········ |
| And left my blossomed apple boughs, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And sorrows dark | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Are on my brows. | 4 | ···· |
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.