Now That You Too
Now that you too must shortly go the wayWhich in these bloodshot years uncounted menHave gone in vanishing armies day by day,And in their numbers will not come again:I must not strain the moments of our meetingStriving each look, each accent, not to miss,Or question of our parting and our greeting,Is this the last of all? is this--or this?
Last sight of all it may be with these eyes,Last touch, last hearing, since eyes, hands, and ears,Even serving love, are our mortalities,And cling to what they own in mortal fears:--But oh, let end what will, I hold you fastBy immortal love, which has no first or last.
Words in this poem
- shortly adv.
- In a short or brief time or manner; soon; quickly. [AS. sceortlice.]
- bloodshot a.
- Red and inflamed; suffused with blood, or having the vessels turgid with blood, as when the conjunctiva is inflamed or irritated. [Blood + shot, p. p. of shoot to variegate.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Now That You Too is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sonnets and Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #56244; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Eleanor Farjeon, Now That You Too, in Sonnets and Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56244, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/farjeon-sonnets-poems/now-that-you-too.html, id L21994.
Form and metre
Now That You Too is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABABCDCD wayA · menB · dayA · againB · meetingC · missD · greetingC · thisD
- 2 ABABCC eyesA · earsB · mortalitiesA · fearsB · fastC · lastC
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Now that you too must shortly go the way | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Which in these bloodshot years uncounted men | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Have gone in vanishing armies day by day, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And in their numbers will not come again: | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| I must not strain the moments of our meeting | 11 | ·····/˘·//˘ |
| Striving each look, each accent, not to miss, | 10 | /˘···˘/··· |
| Or question of our parting and our greeting, | 11 | ·/˘·//˘·//˘ |
| Is this the last of all? is this--or this? | 10 | ·········· |
| Last sight of all it may be with these eyes, | 10 | ·········· |
| Last touch, last hearing, since eyes, hands, and ears, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Even serving love, are our mortalities, | 11 | //˘··/˘˘/˘˘ |
| And cling to what they own in mortal fears:-- | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But oh, let end what will, I hold you fast | 10 | ·········· |
| By immortal love, which has no first or last. | 11 | ·˘/˘······· |
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.