Two Love-Locks
Reviving languorous dreamingOf conquered, conquering eye,Upon thy forehead gleaming,Two fairest love-locks lie.
I see them softly nesting,Of wondrous, golden sheen,Like little wheels come restingFrom car of Mab the Queen;
Or bows of Cupid readyTo let the arrows fly,Bent circlewise and steadyFor archer's mastery.
One heart have I of passion.Yet two love-locks are thine!O brow of fickle fashion!Whose heart is caught with mine?
Words in this poem
- languorous a.
- Producing, or tending to produce, languor; characterized by languor. [From Languor: cf. F. langoureux.]
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- sheen v. i.
- To shine; to glisten.
- cupid
- The god of love, son of Venus; usually represented as a naked, winged boy with bow and arrow. [L.Cupido, fr. cupido desire, desire of love, fr. cupidus. See Cupidity.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Two Love-Locks 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, Two Love-Locks, in Enamels and Cameos and Other Poems (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #29521, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/gautier-enamels-cameos/two-love-locks.html, id L27018.
Form and metre
Two Love-Locks is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in common measure.
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 dreamingA · eyeB · gleamingA · lieB
- 2 ABAB nestingA · sheenB · restingA · queenB
- 3 A-A- readyA · fly · steadyA · mastery
- 4 ABAB passionA · thineB · fashionA · mineB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Reviving languorous dreaming | 8 | ˘/˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Of conquered, conquering eye, | 8 | ·/˘˘/˘˘· |
| Upon thy forehead gleaming, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Two fairest love-locks lie. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I see them softly nesting, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Of wondrous, golden sheen, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Like little wheels come resting | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| From car of Mab the Queen; | 6 | ······ |
| Or bows of Cupid ready | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| To let the arrows fly, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Bent circlewise and steady | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| For archer's mastery. | 6 | ·/˘/˘˘ |
| One heart have I of passion. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Yet two love-locks are thine! | 6 | ······ |
| O brow of fickle fashion! | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Whose heart is caught with mine? | 6 | ······ |
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.