‘AS like the Woman as you can’—
‘AS like the Woman as you can’—(Thus the New Adam was beguiled)—‘So shall you touch the Perfect Man’—(God in the Garden heard and smiled).‘Your father perished with his day:‘A clot of passions fierce and blind,‘He fought, he hacked, he crushed his way:‘Your muscles, Child, must be of mind.
‘The Brute that lurks and irks within,‘How, till you have him gagged and bound,‘Escape the foullest form of Sin?’(God in the Garden laughed and frowned).‘So vile, so rank, the bestial mood‘In which the race is bid to be,‘It wrecks the Rarer Womanhood:‘Live, therefore, you, for Purity!
‘Take for your mate no gallant croup,‘No girl all grace and natural will:‘To work her mission were to stoop,‘Maybe to lapse, from Well to Ill.‘Choose one of whom your grosser make’—(God in the Garden laughed outright)—‘The true refining touch may take,‘Till both attain to Life’s last height.
‘There, equal, purged of soul and sense.‘Beneficent, high-thinking, just,‘Beyond the appeal of Violence,‘Incapable of common Lust,‘In mental Marriage still prevail’—(God in the Garden hid His face)—‘Till you achieve that Female-Male‘In Which shall culminate the race.’
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,]
- bestial a.
- Belonging to a beast, or to the class of beasts. [F. bestial, L. bestialis, fr. bestia beast. See Beast.]
- maybe adv.
- Perhaps; possibly; peradventure. [For it may be.]
- outright adv.
- Immediately; without delay; at once; as, he was killed outright.
- lust v. i.
- To list; to like. [AS. lystan. See Lust, n., and cf. List to choose.]
- culminate v. i.
- To reach its highest point of altitude; to come to the meridian; to be vertical or directly overhead. [L. cuimen top or ridge. See Column.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
‘AS like the Woman as you can’— is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #1568; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: W. E. Henley, ‘AS like the Woman as you can’—, in Poems (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1568, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/henley-poems/as-like-the-woman-as-you-can.html, id L12445.
Form and metre
‘AS like the Woman as you can’— is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 6% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABABCDCD canA · beguiledB · manA · smiledB · dayC · blindD · wayC · mindD
- 2 ABAB---- withinA · boundB · sinA · frownedB · mood · be · womanhood · purity
- 3 ABABCDCD croupA · willB · stoopA · illB · makeC · outrightD · takeC · heightD
- 4 ABABCDCD senseA · justB · violenceA · lustB · prevailC · faceD · maleC · raceD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| ‘AS like the Woman as you can’— | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| (Thus the New Adam was beguiled)— | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| ‘So shall you touch the Perfect Man’— | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| (God in the Garden heard and smiled). | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| ‘Your father perished with his day: | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| ‘A clot of passions fierce and blind, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| ‘He fought, he hacked, he crushed his way: | 8 | ········ |
| ‘Your muscles, Child, must be of mind. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| ‘The Brute that lurks and irks within, | 8 | ········ |
| ‘How, till you have him gagged and bound, | 8 | ········ |
| ‘Escape the foullest form of Sin?’ | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| (God in the Garden laughed and frowned). | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| ‘So vile, so rank, the bestial mood | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| ‘In which the race is bid to be, | 8 | ········ |
| ‘It wrecks the Rarer Womanhood: | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| ‘Live, therefore, you, for Purity! | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| ‘Take for your mate no gallant croup, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| ‘No girl all grace and natural will: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| ‘To work her mission were to stoop, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| ‘Maybe to lapse, from Well to Ill. | 8 | /˘······ |
| ‘Choose one of whom your grosser make’— | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| (God in the Garden laughed outright)— | 8 | ···/˘·// |
| ‘The true refining touch may take, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| ‘Till both attain to Life’s last height. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| ‘There, equal, purged of soul and sense. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| ‘Beneficent, high-thinking, just, | 8 | ·˘/˘·/˘· |
| ‘Beyond the appeal of Violence, | 9 | ···˘/·/˘˘ |
| ‘Incapable of common Lust, | 8 | ˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| ‘In mental Marriage still prevail’— | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| (God in the Garden hid His face)— | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| ‘Till you achieve that Female-Male | 8 | ··˘/·/·· |
| ‘In Which shall culminate the race.’ | 8 | ···/˘··· |
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