To F. W
LET us be drunk, and for a while forget,Forget, and, ceasing even from regret,Live without reason and despite of rhyme,As in a dream preposterous and sublime,Where place and hour and means for once are met.
Where is the use of effort? Love and debtAnd disappointment have us in a net.Let us break out, and taste the morning prime . . .Let us be drunk.
In vain our little hour we strut and fret,And mouth our wretched parts as for a bet:We cannot please the tragicaster Time.To gain the crystal sphere, the silver dime,Where Sympathy sits dimpling on us yet,Let us be drunk!
Words in this poem
- preposterous a.
- Having that first which ought to be last; inverted in order. [L. praeposterus; prae before + posterus coming after, latter. See Posterior.]
- disappointment n.
- The act of disappointing, or the state of being disappointed; defeat or failure of expectation or hope; miscarriage of design or plan; frustration. [Cf. F. désappointement.]
- dime n.
- A silver coin of the United States, of the value of ten cents; the tenth of a dollar. Dime novel, a novel, commonly sensational and trashy, which is sold for a dime, or ten cents. [F. dîme tithe, OF. disme, fr. L. decimus the tenth, fr. decem ten. See Decimal.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To F. W 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, To F. W, in Poems (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1568, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/henley-poems/to-f-w.html, id L12378.
Form and metre
To F. W is 15 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.1 syllables. 7% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AABBA forgetA · regretA · rhymeB · sublimeB · metA
- 2 AA-- debtA · netA · prime · drunk
- 3 AABBA- fretA · betA · timeB · dimeB · yetA · drunk
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 |
|---|---|---|
| LET us be drunk, and for a while forget, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Forget, and, ceasing even from regret, | 10 | ˘/·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Live without reason and despite of rhyme, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| As in a dream preposterous and sublime, | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| Where place and hour and means for once are met. | 10 | ···/······ |
| Where is the use of effort? Love and debt | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And disappointment have us in a net. | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Let us break out, and taste the morning prime . . . | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Let us be drunk. | 4 | ···· |
| In vain our little hour we strut and fret, | 10 | ··//˘/···· |
| And mouth our wretched parts as for a bet: | 10 | ··//˘····· |
| We cannot please the tragicaster Time. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| To gain the crystal sphere, the silver dime, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Where Sympathy sits dimpling on us yet, | 10 | ·/˘·/˘˘··· |
| Let us be drunk! | 4 | ···· |
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.