Blondine
I wandered through a careless worldDeceived when not deceiving,And never gave an idle heartThe rapture of believing.The smiles, the sighs, the glancing eyes,Of many hundred comersSwept by me, light as rose-leaves blownFrom long-forgotten summers.
But never eyes so deep and brightAnd loyal in their seeming,And never smiles so full of lightHave shone upon my dreaming.The looks and lips so gay and wise,The thousand charms that wreathe them,--Almost I dare believe that truthIs safely shrined beneath them.
Ah! do they shine, those eyes of thine,But for our own misleading?The fresh young smile, so pure and fine,Does it but mock our reading?Then faith is fled, and trust is dead,And unbelief grows duty,If fraud can wield the triple armOf youth and wit and beauty.
Words in this poem
- glancing a.
- Shooting, as light.
- unbelief n.
- The withholding of belief; doubt; incredulity; skepticism. [Pref. un- not + belief: cf. AS. ungeleáfa.]
- wield v. t.
- To govern; to rule; to keep, or have in charge; also, to possess. [OE. welden to govern, to have power over, to possess, AS. geweldan, gewyldan, from wealdan; akin to OS. waldan, OFries. walda, G. walten, OHG. waltan, Icel. val]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Blondine is in the public domain. This text is taken from Pike County Ballads and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #6062; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Hay, Blondine, in Pike County Ballads and Other Poems (1871), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6062, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hay-pike-county/blondine.html, id L21636.
Form and metre
Blondine is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%).
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 -A-ABB-B world · deceivingA · heart · believingA · eyesB · comersB · blown · summersB
- 2 ABAB-C-C brightA · seemingB · lightA · dreamingB · wise · themC · truth · themC
- 3 ABAB-C-C thineA · misleadingB · fineA · readingB · dead · dutyC · arm · beautyC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I wandered through a careless world | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Deceived when not deceiving, | 8 | ˘/˘··˘/˘ |
| And never gave an idle heart | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The rapture of believing. | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| The smiles, the sighs, the glancing eyes, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of many hundred comers | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Swept by me, light as rose-leaves blown | 8 | ········ |
| From long-forgotten summers. | 7 | ··˘/˘/˘ |
| But never eyes so deep and bright | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And loyal in their seeming, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| And never smiles so full of light | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Have shone upon my dreaming. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The looks and lips so gay and wise, | 8 | ········ |
| The thousand charms that wreathe them, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| --Almost I dare believe that truth | 8 | /···˘/·· |
| Is safely shrined beneath them. | 8 | ·/˘·˘··· |
| Ah! do they shine, those eyes of thine, | 8 | ········ |
| But for our own misleading? | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| The fresh young smile, so pure and fine, | 8 | ········ |
| Does it but mock our reading? | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Then faith is fled, and trust is dead, | 8 | ········ |
| And unbelief grows duty, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| If fraud can wield the triple arm | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of youth and wit and beauty. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
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.