Then
He loved her, and through many years,Had paid his fair devoted court,Until she wearied, and with sneersTurned all his ardent love to sport.
That night within his chamber lone,He long sat writing by his bedA note in which his heart made moanFor love; the morning found him dead.
Words in this poem
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Then is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Project Gutenberg ebook #18338; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Paul Laurence Dunbar, Then, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/then.html, id L00662.
Form and metre
Then is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 38% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABAB yearsA · courtB · sneersA · sportB
- 2 ABAB loneA · bedB · moanA · deadB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| He loved her, and through many years, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Had paid his fair devoted court, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Until she wearied, and with sneers | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Turned all his ardent love to sport. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That night within his chamber lone, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| He long sat writing by his bed | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A note in which his heart made moan | 8 | ········ |
| For love; the morning found him dead. | 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.