Parting Words
Leave me! oh, leave me! Unto all belowThy presence binds me with too deep a spell;Thou makest those mortal regions, whence I go,Too mighty in their loveliness. Farewell,That I may part in peace!
Leave me!--thy footstep, with its lightest sound,The very shadow of thy waving hair,Wakes in my soul a feeling too profound,Too strong for aught that loves and dies, to bear--Oh! bid the conflict cease!
I hear thy whisper--and the warm tears gushInto mine eyes, the quick pulse thrills my heart;Thou bid’st the peace, the reverential hush,The still submission, from my thoughts depart:Dear one! this must not be.
The past looks on me from thy mournful eye,The beauty of our free and vernal days;Our communings with sea, and hill, and sky--Oh! take that bright world from my spirit’s gaze!Thou art all earth to me!
Shut out the sunshine from my dying room,The jasmine’s breath, the murmur of the bee;Let not the joy of bird-notes pierce the gloom!They speak of love, of summer, and of thee,Too much--and death is here!
Doth our own spring make happy music now,From the old beech-roots flashing into day?Are the pure lilies imaged in its flow?Alas! vain thoughts! that fondly thus can strayFrom the dread hour so near!
If I could but draw courage from the lightOf thy clear eye, that ever shone to bless!--Not now! ’twill not be now!--my aching sight,Drinks from that fount a flood of tenderness,Bearing all strength away!
Leave me!--thou com’st between my heart and Heaven;I would be still, in voiceless prayer to die!--Why must our souls thus love, and then be riven?Return! thy parting wakes mine agony!Oh, yet awhile delay!
Words in this poem
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
- 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.
- fondly adv.
- Foolishly. Verstegan (1673).
- twill v. i.
- To weave, as cloth, so as to produce the appearance of diagonal lines or ribs on the surface. [Scotch tweel; probably from LG. twillen to make double, from twi- two; akin to AS. twi-, E. twi- in twilight. See Twice, and cf. Tweed, Tweel.]
- aching a.
- That aches; continuously painful. See Ache.
- voiceless a.
- Having no voice, utterance, or vote; silent; mute; dumb.
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Parting Words is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Felicia Hemans, Project Gutenberg ebook #66785; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Felicia Hemans, Parting Words, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/parting-words.html, id L19488.
Form and metre
Parting Words is 40 lines in 8 stanzas of 5 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABABC belowA · spellB · goA · farewellB · peaceC
- 2 DEDEC soundD · hairE · profoundD · bearE · ceaseC
- 3 FGFGH gushF · heartG · hushF · departG · beH
- 4 IJIJH eyeI · daysJ · skyI · gazeJ · meH
- 5 KHKHL roomK · beeH · gloomK · theeH · hereL
- 6 -M-ML now · dayM · flow · strayM · nearL
- 7 N-N-M lightN · bless · sightN · tenderness · awayM
- 8 ----M heaven · die · riven · agony · delayM
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Leave me! oh, leave me! Unto all below | 10 | ·········· |
| Thy presence binds me with too deep a spell; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Thou makest those mortal regions, whence I go, | 11 | ····/˘/˘··· |
| Too mighty in their loveliness. Farewell, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·/ |
| That I may part in peace! | 6 | ······ |
| Leave me!--thy footstep, with its lightest sound, | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| The very shadow of thy waving hair, | 10 | ·/˘/···/˘· |
| Wakes in my soul a feeling too profound, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Too strong for aught that loves and dies, to bear-- | 10 | ·········· |
| Oh! bid the conflict cease! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I hear thy whisper--and the warm tears gush | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Into mine eyes, the quick pulse thrills my heart; | 10 | ·········· |
| Thou bid’st the peace, the reverential hush, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| The still submission, from my thoughts depart: | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| Dear one! this must not be. | 6 | ······ |
| The past looks on me from thy mournful eye, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The beauty of our free and vernal days; | 10 | ·/˘·/··/˘· |
| Our communings with sea, and hill, and sky-- | 10 | /˘/˘······ |
| Oh! take that bright world from my spirit’s gaze! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Thou art all earth to me! | 6 | ······ |
| Shut out the sunshine from my dying room, | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| The jasmine’s breath, the murmur of the bee; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Let not the joy of bird-notes pierce the gloom! | 10 | ·········· |
| They speak of love, of summer, and of thee, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Too much--and death is here! | 6 | ······ |
| Doth our own spring make happy music now, | 10 | ·/···/˘/˘· |
| From the old beech-roots flashing into day? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Are the pure lilies imaged in its flow? | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Alas! vain thoughts! that fondly thus can stray | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| From the dread hour so near! | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| If I could but draw courage from the light | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Of thy clear eye, that ever shone to bless! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| --Not now! ’twill not be now!--my aching sight, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Drinks from that fount a flood of tenderness, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Bearing all strength away! | 6 | /˘··˘/ |
| Leave me!--thou com’st between my heart and Heaven; | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| I would be still, in voiceless prayer to die!-- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Why must our souls thus love, and then be riven? | 11 | ··/······/˘ |
| Return! thy parting wakes mine agony! | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Oh, yet awhile delay! | 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.