You played and sang a snatch of song
YOU played and sang a snatch of song,A song that all-too well we knew;But whither had flown the ancient wrong;And was it really I and you?O, since the end of life’s to liveAnd pay in pence the common debt,What should it cost us to forgiveWhose daily task is to forget?
You babbled in the well-known voice—Not new, not new the words you said.You touched me off that famous poise,That old effect, of neck and head.Dear, was it really you and I?In truth the riddle’s ill to read,So many are the deaths we dieBefore we can be dead indeed.
Words in this poem
- whither adv.
- To what place; -- used interrogatively; as, whither goest thou [OE. whider. AS. hwider; akin to E. where, who; cf. Goth. hvadre whither. See Who, and cf. Hither, Thither.]
- flown a.
- Flushed, inflated.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
You played and sang a snatch of song 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, You played and sang a snatch of song, in Poems (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1568, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/henley-poems/you-played-and-sang-a-snatch-of-song.html, id L12451.
Form and metre
You played and sang a snatch of song is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 19% 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 songA · knewB · wrongA · youB · liveC · debtD · forgiveC · forgetD
- 2 -A-ABAB- voice · saidA · poise · headA · iB · readA · dieB · indeed
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 |
|---|---|---|
| YOU played and sang a snatch of song, | 8 | ········ |
| A song that all-too well we knew; | 8 | ········ |
| But whither had flown the ancient wrong; | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| And was it really I and you? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| O, since the end of life’s to live | 8 | ········ |
| And pay in pence the common debt, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| What should it cost us to forgive | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Whose daily task is to forget? | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| You babbled in the well-known voice— | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Not new, not new the words you said. | 8 | ········ |
| You touched me off that famous poise, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That old effect, of neck and head. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Dear, was it really you and I? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| In truth the riddle’s ill to read, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| So many are the deaths we die | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Before we can be dead indeed. | 8 | ······˘/ |
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.