In the year that’s come and gone, love, his flying feather
IN the year that’s come and gone, love, his flying featherStooping slowly, gave us heart, and bade us walk together.In the year that’s coming on, though many a troth be broken,We at least will not forget aught that love hath spoken.
In the year that’s come and gone, dear, we wove a tetherAll of gracious words and thoughts, binding two together.In the year that’s coming on with its wealth of rosesWe shall weave it stronger, yet, ere the circle closes.
In the year that’s come and gone, in the golden weather,Sweet, my sweet, we swore to keep the watch of life together.In the year that’s coming on, rich in joy and sorrow,We shall light our lamp, and wait life’s mysterious morrow.
Words in this poem
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- troth n.
- Belief; faith; fidelity. [A variant of truth. See Truth.]
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- wove
- p. pr. & rare vb. n. of Weave.
- tether n.
- A long rope or chain by which an animal is fastened, as to a stake, so that it can range or feed only within certain limits. [Formerly tedder, OE. tedir; akin to LG. tider, tier, Icel. tjo, Dan. töir. *64.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In the year that’s come and gone, love, his flying feather 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, In the year that’s come and gone, love, his flying feather, in Poems (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1568, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/henley-poems/in-the-year-that-s-come-and-gone-love-his-flying-feather.html, id L12408.
Form and metre
In the year that’s come and gone, love, his flying feather is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. The metre is trochaic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 77%). 82% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 13.2 syllables. 12 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic hexameter.
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 AABB featherA · togetherA · brokenB · spokenB
- 2 AABB tetherA · togetherA · rosesB · closesB
- 3 AABB weatherA · togetherA · sorrowB · morrowB
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 hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| IN the year that’s come and gone, love, his flying feather | 13 | ·········/˘/˘ |
| Stooping slowly, gave us heart, and bade us walk together. | 14 | /˘/˘·······˘/˘ |
| In the year that’s coming on, though many a troth be broken, | 14 | ····/˘··/···/˘ |
| We at least will not forget aught that love hath spoken. | 13 | ·····˘/····/˘ |
| In the year that’s come and gone, dear, we wove a tether | 13 | ···········/˘ |
| All of gracious words and thoughts, binding two together. | 13 | ··/˘···/˘·˘/˘ |
| In the year that’s coming on with its wealth of roses | 13 | ····/˘·····/˘ |
| We shall weave it stronger, yet, ere the circle closes. | 13 | ····/˘···/˘/˘ |
| In the year that’s come and gone, in the golden weather, | 13 | ·········/˘/˘ |
| Sweet, my sweet, we swore to keep the watch of life together. | 14 | ···········˘/˘ |
| In the year that’s coming on, rich in joy and sorrow, | 13 | ····/˘·····/˘ |
| We shall light our lamp, and wait life’s mysterious morrow. | 13 | ···/····˘/˘/˘ |
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