To Alice Meynell
I too have known my mutinies,Played with improvident desires,Gone indolently vain as theseWhose lips from undistinguished choirsMock at the music of our sires.
I too have erred in thought. In hoursWhen needy life forbade me bringTo song the brain’s unravished powers,Then had it been a temperate thingLoosely to pluck an easy string.
Yet thought has been, poor profligate,Sin’s period. Through dear and longObedience I learn to hateUnhappy lethargies that wrongThe larger loyalties of song.
And you upon your slender reed,Most exquisitely tuned, have madeFor every singing heart a creed.And I have heard; and I have playedMy lonely music unafraid,
Knowing that still a friendly few,Turning aside from turbulence,Cherish the difficult phrase, the dueBridals of disembodied senseWith the new word’s magnificence.
Words in this poem
- indolently adv.
- In an indolent manner.
- exquisitely adv.
- In an exquisite manner or degree; as, lace exquisitely wrought.
- magnificence n.
- The act of doing what magnificent; the state or quality of being magnificent. Acts xix. 27. [F. magnificence, L. magnificentia. See Magnific.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Alice Meynell 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, To Alice Meynell, in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/to-alice-meynell.html, id L23139.
Form and metre
To Alice Meynell is 25 lines in 5 stanzas of 5 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABB, complete in 4 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
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 AAABB mutiniesA · desiresA · theseA · choirsB · siresB
- 2 ABABB hoursA · bringB · powersA · thingB · stringB
- 3 ABABB profligateA · longB · hateA · wrongB · songB
- 4 ABABB reedA · madeB · creedA · playedB · unafraidB
- 5 ABABB fewA · turbulenceB · dueA · senseB · magnificenceB
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 too have known my mutinies, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Played with improvident desires, | 9 | ··˘/˘˘˘/˘ |
| Gone indolently vain as these | 8 | ·/˘˘˘··· |
| Whose lips from undistinguished choirs | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Mock at the music of our sires. | 8 | ···/˘·/· |
| I too have erred in thought. In hours | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| When needy life forbade me bring | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| To song the brain’s unravished powers, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Then had it been a temperate thing | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Loosely to pluck an easy string. | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Yet thought has been, poor profligate, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Sin’s period. Through dear and long | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Obedience I learn to hate | 8 | ˘/˘˘···· |
| Unhappy lethargies that wrong | 8 | ˘/˘/˘˘·· |
| The larger loyalties of song. | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| And you upon your slender reed, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Most exquisitely tuned, have made | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| For every singing heart a creed. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And I have heard; and I have played | 8 | ········ |
| My lonely music unafraid, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Knowing that still a friendly few, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Turning aside from turbulence, | 8 | /˘˘/·/˘˘ |
| Cherish the difficult phrase, the due | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Bridals of disembodied sense | 8 | /˘·˘˘/˘· |
| With the new word’s magnificence. | 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.