With Daffodils
I send you daffodils, my dear,For these are emperors of spring,And in my heart you keep so clearSo delicate an empery,That none but emperors could beAmbassadors endowed to bringMy messages of honesty.
My mind makes faring to and fro,Deft or bewildered, dark or kind,That not the eye of God may knowWhich motion is of true estateAnd which a twisted runagateOf all the farings of my mind,And which has honesty for mate.
Only my love for you is cleanOf scandal’s use, and though, may be,Far rangers have my passions been,--Since thus the word of Eden went,--Yet of the springs of my content,My very wells of honestyAre you the only firmament.
Words in this poem
- empery n.
- Empire; sovereignty; dominion. [L. imperium, influenced by OF. emperie, empire. See Empire.]
- deft a.
- Apt; fit; dexterous; clever; handy; spruce; neat. [OE. daft, deft, becoming, mild, gentle, stupid (cf. OE. daffe, deffe, fool, coward), AS. dæft (in derivatives only) mild, gentle, fitting, seasonable; akin to d]
- runagate n.
- A fugitive; a vagabond; an apostate; a renegade. See Renegade. [F. renégat, Prov. renegat. LL. renegatus; confused with E. run and gate a way. See Renegate.]
- eden n.
- The garden where Adam and Eve first dwelt; hence, a delightful region or residence. [Heb. eden delight, pleasure; also, a place of pleasure, Eden.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- firmament n.
- Fixed foundation; established basis. [L. firmamentum, fr. firmare to make firm: cf. F. firmament. See Firm, v. & a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
With Daffodils 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, With Daffodils, in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/with-daffodils.html, id L23074.
Form and metre
With Daffodils is 21 lines in 3 stanzas of 7 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
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 ABA--B- dearA · springB · clearA · empery · be · bringB · honesty
- 2 ABACCBC froA · kindB · knowA · estateC · runagateC · mindB · mateC
- 3 ---AA-A clean · be · been · wentA · contentA · honesty · firmamentA
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 send you daffodils, my dear, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| For these are emperors of spring, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| And in my heart you keep so clear | 8 | ········ |
| So delicate an empery, | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘˘ |
| That none but emperors could be | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Ambassadors endowed to bring | 8 | ˘/˘˘˘/·· |
| My messages of honesty. | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘˘ |
| My mind makes faring to and fro, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Deft or bewildered, dark or kind, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| That not the eye of God may know | 8 | ········ |
| Which motion is of true estate | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| And which a twisted runagate | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Of all the farings of my mind, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And which has honesty for mate. | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Only my love for you is clean | 8 | /˘······ |
| Of scandal’s use, and though, may be, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Far rangers have my passions been,-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Since thus the word of Eden went,-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Yet of the springs of my content, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| My very wells of honesty | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Are you the only firmament. | 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.