To W. a
OR ever the knightly years were goneWith the old world to the grave,I was a King in BabylonAnd you were a Christian Slave.
I saw, I took, I cast you by,I bent and broke your pride.You loved me well, or I heard them lie,But your longing was denied.Surely I knew that by and byYou cursed your gods and died.
And a myriad suns have set and shoneSince then upon the graveDecreed by the King in BabylonTo her that had been his Slave.
The pride I trampled is now my scathe,For it tramples me again.The old resentment lasts like death,For you love, yet you refrain.I break my heart on your hard unfaith,And I break my heart in vain.
Yet not for an hour do I wish undoneThe deed beyond the grave,When I was a King in BabylonAnd you were a Virgin Slave.
Words in this poem
- knightly a.
- Of or pertaining to a knight; becoming a knight; chivalrous; as, a knightly combat; a knightly spirit. [AS. cnihtlic boyish.]
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- cursed a.
- Deserving a curse; execrable; hateful; detestable; abominable.
- myriad n.
- The number of ten thousand; ten thousand persons or things. [Gr. myriade.]
- scathe v. t.
- To do harm to; to injure; to damage; to waste; to destroy. [Icel. skatha; akin to AS. sceathan, sceth\'eban, Dan. skade, Sw. skada, D. & G. schaden, OHG. scadon, Goth. skaÞjan.]
- unfaith n.
- Absence or want of faith; faithlessness; distrust; unbelief.
- undone a.
- Not done or performed; neglected. [Pref. un- not + done.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To W. a 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 W. a, in Poems (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1568, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/henley-poems/to-w-a-2.html, id L12420.
Form and metre
To W. a is 24 lines in 5 stanzas. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABABAB, in 2 of the 5 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.7 syllables. 33% 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 -A-A gone · graveA · babylon · slaveA
- 2 ABABAB byA · prideB · lieA · deniedB · byA · diedB
- 3 -A-A shone · graveA · babylon · slaveA
- 4 ABABAB scatheA · againB · deathA · refrainB · unfaithA · vainB
- 5 -A-A undone · graveA · babylon · slaveA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| OR ever the knightly years were gone | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| With the old world to the grave, | 7 | ······· |
| I was a King in Babylon | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And you were a Christian Slave. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| I saw, I took, I cast you by, | 8 | ········ |
| I bent and broke your pride. | 6 | ······ |
| You loved me well, or I heard them lie, | 9 | ········· |
| But your longing was denied. | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Surely I knew that by and by | 8 | /˘······ |
| You cursed your gods and died. | 6 | ······ |
| And a myriad suns have set and shone | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| Since then upon the grave | 6 | ······ |
| Decreed by the King in Babylon | 9 | ˘/····/˘· |
| To her that had been his Slave. | 7 | ······· |
| The pride I trampled is now my scathe, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| For it tramples me again. | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| The old resentment lasts like death, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| For you love, yet you refrain. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| I break my heart on your hard unfaith, | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| And I break my heart in vain. | 7 | ······· |
| Yet not for an hour do I wish undone | 10 | ····/···˘/ |
| The deed beyond the grave, | 6 | ······ |
| When I was a King in Babylon | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And you were a Virgin Slave. | 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.