Lethe
Nor skin nor hide nor fleeceShall cover you,Nor curtain of crimson nor fineShelter of cedar-wood be over you,Nor the fir-treeNor the pine.
Nor sight of whin nor gorseNor river-yew,Nor fragrance of flowering bush,Nor wailing of reed-bird to waken you,Nor of linnet,Nor of thrush.
Nor word nor touch nor sightOf lover, youShall long through the night but for this:The roll of the full tide to cover youWithout question,Without kiss.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- gorse n.
- Furze. See Furze. [OE. & AS. gorst; perh. akin to E. grow, grass.]
- waken v. i.
- To wake; to cease to sleep; to be awakened. [OE. waknen, AS. wæcnan; akin to Goth. gawaknan. See Wake, v. i.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Lethe is in the public domain. This text is taken from Heliodora, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #62456; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: H.D., Lethe, in Heliodora, and Other Poems (1924), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #62456, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hd-heliodora/lethe.html, id L24319.
Form and metre
Lethe is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
See other poems in iambic dimeter.
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 -ABA-B fleece · youA · fineB · youA · tree · pineB
- 2 -A-A-- gorse · yewA · bush · youA · linnet · thrush
- 3 -ABA-B sight · youA · thisB · youA · question · kissB
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 dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Nor skin nor hide nor fleece | 6 | ······ |
| Shall cover you, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Nor curtain of crimson nor fine | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
| Shelter of cedar-wood be over you, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Nor the fir-tree | 4 | ···· |
| Nor the pine. | 3 | ··· |
| Nor sight of whin nor gorse | 6 | ······ |
| Nor river-yew, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Nor fragrance of flowering bush, | 8 | ·/˘·/˘˘· |
| Nor wailing of reed-bird to waken you, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Nor of linnet, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Nor of thrush. | 3 | ··· |
| Nor word nor touch nor sight | 6 | ······ |
| Of lover, you | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Shall long through the night but for this: | 8 | ········ |
| The roll of the full tide to cover you | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Without question, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Without kiss. | 3 | ··· |
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.