A Last Wish
How long my soul has loved thee, love!It is full many a year agone.Thy spring--what charm of flowers thereof,My winter--what wild snows thereon!
White lilacs from the land of gravesBlow near my temples. Soon enowThou'lt mark the pallid mass that wavesEnshadowing my withered brow.
My westering sun must speedy drop,And disappear behind the road.Already on the dim hill-top,There gleams and waits my last abode.
Then from thy rosy lips let fallUpon my lips a tardy kiss,That in my tomb, when comes the call,My heart may rest, remembering this.
Words in this poem
- thereon adv.
- On that or this. [AS. . See There, and On.]
- enow
- A form of Enough.
- westering a.
- Passing to the west.
- abode n.
- Act of waiting; delay. [OE. abad, abood, fr. abiden to abide. See Abide. For the change of vowel, cf. abode, imp. of abide.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Last Wish is in the public domain. This text is taken from Enamels and Cameos and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #29521, the Agnes Lee translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Théophile Gautier, A Last Wish, in Enamels and Cameos and Other Poems (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #29521, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/gautier-enamels-cameos/a-last-wish.html, id L27032.
Form and metre
A Last Wish is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 loveA · agoneB · thereofA · thereonB
- 2 ABAB gravesA · enowB · wavesA · browB
- 3 ABAB dropA · roadB · topA · abodeB
- 4 ABAB fallA · kissB · callA · thisB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| How long my soul has loved thee, love! | 8 | ········ |
| It is full many a year agone. | 8 | ···/··˘/ |
| Thy spring--what charm of flowers thereof, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| My winter--what wild snows thereon! | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| White lilacs from the land of graves | 8 | ·/······ |
| Blow near my temples. Soon enow | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Thou'lt mark the pallid mass that waves | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Enshadowing my withered brow. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| My westering sun must speedy drop, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And disappear behind the road. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Already on the dim hill-top, | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| There gleams and waits my last abode. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Then from thy rosy lips let fall | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Upon my lips a tardy kiss, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That in my tomb, when comes the call, | 8 | ········ |
| My heart may rest, remembering this. | 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.