Loverland
This is the land where minor bardsAnd other lunatics repair,To live in houses made of cards,Or build their castles in the air;To feed on hope, and idly dreamThat things are really what they seem.
The natives are a motley lot,Of ev'ry age and creed and race,But each inhabitant has gotThe same expression on his face;They look, when this their features fills,Like angels with internal chills.
The lover sits, the livelong day,Quite inarticulate of speech;He simply brims with things to say;Alas! the words he cannot reach,And, silent, lets occasion pass,Feeling a fulminating ass.
It is the lady lover's wontTo blush, and look demure or coy,To say, 'You mustn't!' and, 'Oh! don't!'Or, 'Please leave off, you naughty boy!'(But this, of course, is just her way,She wouldn't wish you to obey.)
The lover, in a trembling voice,Demands the hand of his lovee,And begs the lady of his choiceTo share some cottage-by-the-sea;With her a prison would be nice,A coal-cellar a Paradise!
'Love in a cottage' sounds so well;But oh, my too impatient bride,No drainage and a constant smellOf something being over-friedIs not the sort of atmosphereThat makes for wedded bliss, my dear.
And when the bills are rather high,And when the money's rather low,See poor Virginia sit and sigh,And ask why Paul must grumble so!He slams the door and strides about,And, through the window, Love creeps out.
'Tis said that Cupid blinds our sightWith fire of passion from above,Nor ever bids us see arightThe many faults in those we love;Ah no! I deem it otherwise,For lovers have the clearest eyes.
They see the faults, the failures, andThe great temptations, and they know,Although they cannot understand,That they would have the loved one so.Believe me, Love is never blind,His smiling eyes are wise and kind.
Tho' lovers quarrel, yet, I ween,'Tis but to make it up again;The sunshine seems the more sereneThat follows after April rain;And love should lead, if love be true,To perfect understanding too.
If in our hearts this love beats strong,We shall not ever seek to earnForgiveness for some fancied wrong,Nor need to pardon in return;But learn this lesson as we live,'To understand is to forgive.'
And all you little girls and boysWill find this out yourselves, some day,When you have done with childish toysAnd put your infant books away.Ah! then I pray that hand-in-handYou tread the paths of Loverland.
Words in this poem
- livelong a.
- Whole; entire; long in passing; -- used of time, as day or night, in adverbial phrases, and usually with a sense of tediousness. [For lifelong. Cf. Lifelong.]
- fulminating a.
- Thundering; exploding in a peculiarly sudden or violent manner.
- demure v. i.
- To look demurely.
- naughty a.
- Having little or nothing.
- lovee n.
- One who is loved. [Humorous]
- wedded a.
- Joined in wedlock; married.
- grumble v. i.
- To murmur or mutter with discontent; to make ill-natured complaints in a low voice and a surly manner. [Cf. LG. grummeln, grumman, D. grommelen, grommen, and F. grommeler, of German origin; cf. W. grwm, murmur, grumble, surly. sq. root35. Cf. Grum, Grim.]
- 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.]
- aright adv.
- Rightly; correctly; in a right way or form; without mistake or crime; as, to worship God aright. [Pref. a- + right.]
- deem v. t.
- To decide; to judge; to sentence; to condemn. [OE. demen to judge, condemn, AS. d, fr. d doom; akin to OFries. d, OS. ad, D. doemen, OHG. tuommen, Icel. dæma, Sw. dömma, Dan. dömme, Goth. d. See Doom, n., an]
- ween v. i.
- To think; to imagine; to fancy. [OE. wenen, AS. w, fr. w hope, expectation, opinion; akin to D. waan, OFries. w, OS. & OHG. wan, G. wahn delusion, Icel. van hope, expectation, Goth. w, and D. w]
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Loverland is in the public domain. This text is taken from Verse and Worse, Project Gutenberg ebook #36702; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Harry Graham, Loverland, in Verse and Worse (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36702, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/graham-verse-and-worse/loverland.html, id L23322.
Form and metre
Loverland is 72 lines in 12 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 11 of its 12 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 ABABCC bardsA · repairB · cardsA · airB · dreamC · seemC
- 2 ABABCC lotA · raceB · gotA · faceB · fillsC · chillsC
- 3 ABABCC dayA · speechB · sayA · reachB · passC · assC
- 4 ABABCC wontA · coyB · don'tA · boyB · wayC · obeyC
- 5 A-A-BB voiceA · lovee · choiceA · sea · niceB · paradiseB
- 6 ABABCC wellA · brideB · smellA · friedB · atmosphereC · dearC
- 7 ABABCC highA · lowB · sighA · soB · aboutC · outC
- 8 ABABCC sightA · aboveB · arightA · loveB · otherwiseC · eyesC
- 9 ABABCC andA · knowB · understandA · soB · blindC · kindC
- 10 ABABCC weenA · againB · sereneA · rainB · trueC · tooC
- 11 ABABCC strongA · earnB · wrongA · returnB · liveC · forgiveC
- 12 ABABCC boysA · dayB · toysA · awayB · handC · loverlandC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| This is the land where minor bards | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And other lunatics repair, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| To live in houses made of cards, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Or build their castles in the air; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To feed on hope, and idly dream | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That things are really what they seem. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The natives are a motley lot, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Of ev'ry age and creed and race, | 8 | ········ |
| But each inhabitant has got | 8 | ··˘/˘˘·· |
| The same expression on his face; | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| They look, when this their features fills, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Like angels with internal chills. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| The lover sits, the livelong day, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Quite inarticulate of speech; | 8 | ·˘˘/˘˘·· |
| He simply brims with things to say; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Alas! the words he cannot reach, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| And, silent, lets occasion pass, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Feeling a fulminating ass. | 8 | /˘·/˘·˘· |
| It is the lady lover's wont | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| To blush, and look demure or coy, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| To say, 'You mustn't!' and, 'Oh! don't!' | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Or, 'Please leave off, you naughty boy!' | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| (But this, of course, is just her way, | 8 | ········ |
| She wouldn't wish you to obey.) | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The lover, in a trembling voice, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Demands the hand of his lovee, | 8 | ˘/····˘/ |
| And begs the lady of his choice | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To share some cottage-by-the-sea; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With her a prison would be nice, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A coal-cellar a Paradise! | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| 'Love in a cottage' sounds so well; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But oh, my too impatient bride, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| No drainage and a constant smell | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Of something being over-fried | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Is not the sort of atmosphere | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That makes for wedded bliss, my dear. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And when the bills are rather high, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And when the money's rather low, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| See poor Virginia sit and sigh, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| And ask why Paul must grumble so! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| He slams the door and strides about, | 8 | ········ |
| And, through the window, Love creeps out. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| 'Tis said that Cupid blinds our sight | 8 | ···/˘·/· |
| With fire of passion from above, | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| Nor ever bids us see aright | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The many faults in those we love; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Ah no! I deem it otherwise, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For lovers have the clearest eyes. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| They see the faults, the failures, and | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The great temptations, and they know, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Although they cannot understand, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| That they would have the loved one so. | 8 | ········ |
| Believe me, Love is never blind, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| His smiling eyes are wise and kind. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Tho' lovers quarrel, yet, I ween, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| 'Tis but to make it up again; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The sunshine seems the more serene | 8 | ·/····˘/ |
| That follows after April rain; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And love should lead, if love be true, | 8 | ········ |
| To perfect understanding too. | 8 | ·/··˘/˘· |
| If in our hearts this love beats strong, | 8 | ··/····· |
| We shall not ever seek to earn | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Forgiveness for some fancied wrong, | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| Nor need to pardon in return; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| But learn this lesson as we live, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| 'To understand is to forgive.' | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| And all you little girls and boys | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Will find this out yourselves, some day, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| When you have done with childish toys | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And put your infant books away. | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Ah! then I pray that hand-in-hand | 8 | ········ |
| You tread the paths of Loverland. | 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.