Wed
I married him on Christmas morn,--Ah woe betide, ah woe betide,Folk said I was a comely bride,--Ah me forlorn.
All braided was my golden hair,And heavy then, and shining then,My limbs were sweet to madden men,--O cunning snare.
My beauty was a thing they sayOf large renown,--O dread renown,--Its rumour travelled through the town,Alas the day.
His kisses burn my mouth and brows,--O burning kiss, O barren kiss,--My body for his worship is,And so he vows.
But daily many men draw nearWith courtly speech and subtle speech;I gather from the lips of eachA deadly fear.
As he grows sullen I grow cold,And whose the blame? Not mine the blame;Their passions round me as a flameAll fiercely fold.
And oh, to think that he might beSo proudly set, above them set,If he might but awaken yetThe soul of me.
Will no man seek and seeking findThe soul of me, the soul of me?Nay, even as they are, so is he,And all are blind.
On Christmas morning we were wed,Ah me the morn, the luckless morn;Now poppies burn along the corn,Would I were dead.
Words in this poem
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- betide v. t.
- To happen to; to befall; to come to ; as, woe betide the wanderer. [OE. bitiden; pref. bi-, be- + tiden, fr. AS. tidan, to happen, fr. tid time. See Tide.]
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
- madden v. t.
- To make mad; to drive to madness; to craze; to excite violently with passion; to make very angry; to enrage.
- rumour n.
- A flying or popular report; the common talk; hence, public fame; notoriety. [F. rumeur, L. rumor; cf. rumificare, rumitare to rumor, Skr. ru to cry.]
- courtly a.
- Relating or belonging to a court. [From Court.]
- 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.]
- luckless a.
- Being without luck; unpropitious; unfortunate; unlucky; meeting with ill success or bad fortune; as, a luckless gamester; a luckless maid.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Wed 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, Wed, in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/wed.html, id L23066.
Form and metre
Wed is 36 lines in 9 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABBA, complete in 8 of its 9 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
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 ABBA mornA · betideB · brideB · forlornA
- 2 ABBA hairA · thenB · menB · snareA
- 3 ABBA sayA · renownB · townB · dayA
- 4 A--A browsA · kiss · is · vowsA
- 5 ABBA nearA · speechB · eachB · fearA
- 6 ABBA coldA · blameB · flameB · foldA
- 7 ABBA beA · setB · yetB · meA
- 8 ABBA findA · meB · heB · blindA
- 9 ABBA wedA · mornB · cornB · deadA
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 married him on Christmas morn,-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Ah woe betide, ah woe betide, | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| Folk said I was a comely bride,-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Ah me forlorn. | 4 | ··˘/ |
| All braided was my golden hair, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And heavy then, and shining then, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| My limbs were sweet to madden men,-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| O cunning snare. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| My beauty was a thing they say | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Of large renown,--O dread renown,-- | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| Its rumour travelled through the town, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Alas the day. | 4 | ˘/·· |
| His kisses burn my mouth and brows,-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| O burning kiss, O barren kiss,-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| My body for his worship is, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And so he vows. | 4 | ···· |
| But daily many men draw near | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| With courtly speech and subtle speech; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| I gather from the lips of each | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A deadly fear. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| As he grows sullen I grow cold, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And whose the blame? Not mine the blame; | 8 | ········ |
| Their passions round me as a flame | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| All fiercely fold. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And oh, to think that he might be | 8 | ········ |
| So proudly set, above them set, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| If he might but awaken yet | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| The soul of me. | 4 | ···· |
| Will no man seek and seeking find | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The soul of me, the soul of me? | 8 | ········ |
| Nay, even as they are, so is he, | 8 | ·/······ |
| And all are blind. | 4 | ···· |
| On Christmas morning we were wed, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Ah me the morn, the luckless morn; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Now poppies burn along the corn, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Would I were dead. | 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.