Sister! Since I Met Thee Last
Sister! since I met thee last,O’er thy brow a change hath past.In the softness of thine eyes,Deep and still a shadow lies;From thy voice there thrills a toneNever to thy childhood known;Through thy soul a storm hath moved,--Gentle sister! thou hast loved!
Yes! thy varying cheek hath caughtHues too bright from troubled thought;Far along the wandering streamThou art follow’d by a dream;In the woods and valleys loneMusic haunts thee, not thine own:Wherefore fall thy tears like rain?--Sister! thou hast loved in vain!
Tell me not the tale, my flower!On my bosom pour that shower!Tell me not of kind thoughts wasted;Tell me not of young hopes blasted;Wring not forth one burning word,Let thy heart no more be stirr’d!Home alone can give thee rest.--Weep, sweet sister! on my breast!
Words in this poem
- childhood n.
- The state of being a child; the time in which persons are children; the condition or time from infancy to puberty. [AS. cildhad; cild child + -had. See Child, and hood.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
- blasted a.
- Blighted; withered.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sister! Since I Met Thee Last 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, Sister! Since I Met Thee Last, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/sister-since-i-met-thee-last.html, id L19679.
Form and metre
Sister! Since I Met Thee Last is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 92% of the lines. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic 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 AABBCC-- lastA · pastA · eyesB · liesB · toneC · knownC · moved · loved
- 2 AABBCCDD caughtA · thoughtA · streamB · dreamB · loneC · ownC · rainD · vainD
- 3 AABBBBCC flowerA · showerA · wastedB · blastedB · wordB · stirr'dB · restC · breastC
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Sister! since I met thee last, | 7 | /˘····· |
| O’er thy brow a change hath past. | 7 | ······· |
| In the softness of thine eyes, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Deep and still a shadow lies; | 7 | ····/·· |
| From thy voice there thrills a tone | 7 | ······· |
| Never to thy childhood known; | 7 | /˘··/·· |
| Through thy soul a storm hath moved, | 7 | ······· |
| --Gentle sister! thou hast loved! | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Yes! thy varying cheek hath caught | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Hues too bright from troubled thought; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Far along the wandering stream | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| Thou art follow’d by a dream; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| In the woods and valleys lone | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Music haunts thee, not thine own: | 7 | /˘····· |
| Wherefore fall thy tears like rain? | 7 | /˘····· |
| --Sister! thou hast loved in vain! | 7 | /˘····· |
| Tell me not the tale, my flower! | 8 | ······/˘ |
| On my bosom pour that shower! | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Tell me not of kind thoughts wasted; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Tell me not of young hopes blasted; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Wring not forth one burning word, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Let thy heart no more be stirr’d! | 7 | ······· |
| Home alone can give thee rest. | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| --Weep, sweet sister! on my breast! | 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.