Hyde and Seeke
One day beneathe a willowe tree,Love met a mayde moste faire to see;“Come play at hyde and seeke,” cried he.“With alle my hearte!”--quoth she.
“I’m it!” Love cries, and rounde hys eyesA scarfe the maiden bindeth,And inne and oute and rounde abouteYe willowe trees he windeth--Yette ne’er the maiden findeth.
Stille inne and oute and rounde aboute,And stille no maiden meetinge;Till, piqued, ye rogue unbinds hys eyes,And, perched upon a branch, espiesYe mayde retreatinge;“Fie! Fie!” cries Love--“you’re cheetinge!”
“Now, you,” quothe he, “must seeke for me!”She binds her eyes, assentinge,And inne and oute and rounde aboute,Seeks she for Love relentinge--
But Love, they say--alas, ye day!Has spread his wings and flown away,And left ye mayde lamentinge,And left ye mayde repentinge.
He sits before me as I write,And talks of this and that,And all my thoughts are put to flightBy his infernal chat.I came to write a tender rhymeTo Phyllis or to Mabel,And chose in this retired caféThe most secluded table.He came before I’d time to fly,And ere I could refuse,Had filled the very chair that IWas keeping for the muse!Then came the deluge--down it cameIn one unceasing pour--Of science, crops, photography,Religion, soups, and war.
1.30--Forsooth the flood of words that flowsFrom this secluded tableWill soon be great enough to swampA dozen towers of Babel.2.30--And still he stays, and still the floodIs rising as before;3-- The world is now a sea of words3.30-- Without a sign of shore.
6-- Great Scott! He’s going!“No, must you go?Don’t tear yourself away!What have I written? Oh, some trash--A sort of Fairy-lay,Of how a dreadful ogreCaught a luckless youth one day,And drowned him in a flood of--well,If you must go--good day!”
Words in this poem
- alle conj.
- Although; if. See All, conj.
- quoth v. t.
- Said; spoke; uttered; -- used only in the first and third persons in the past tenses, and always followed by its nominative, the word or words said being the object; as, quoth I. quoth he. [AS.cweedhan, imp cwæedh, pl. cwædon; akin to OS. queedhan, OHG. quethan, quedan, Icel. kveedha, Goth. qiþan. sq. root22. Cf. Bequeath.]
- yette n.
- Any one of several species of large marine gastropods belonging to the genus Yetus, or Cymba; a boat shell.
- flown a.
- Flushed, inflated.
- forsooth v. t.
- To address respectfully with the term forsooth.
- babel n.
- The city and tower in the land of Shinar, where the confusion of languages took place. [Heb. Babel, the name of the capital of Babylonia; in Genesis associated with the idea of "confusion"]
- dreadful a.
- Full of dread or terror; fearful.
- luckless a.
- Being without luck; unpropitious; unfortunate; unlucky; meeting with ill success or bad fortune; as, a luckless gamester; a luckless maid.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Hyde and Seeke is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Bashful Earthquake, & Other Fables and Verses, Project Gutenberg ebook #56765; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Oliver Herford, Hyde and Seeke, in The Bashful Earthquake, and Other Fables and Verses (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56765, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herford-bashful-earthquake/hyde-and-seeke.html, id L22113.
Form and metre
Hyde and Seeke is 56 lines in 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 AAAA treeA · seeA · heA · sheA
- 2 -A-AA eyes · bindethA · aboute · windethA · findethA
- 3 -ABBAA aboute · meetingeA · eyesB · espiesB · retreatingeA · cheetingeA
- 4 -A-A me · assentingeA · aboute · relentingeA
- 5 AABB dayA · awayA · lamentingeB · repentingeB
- 6 ABAB-C-CDEDE-F-F writeA · thatB · flightA · chatB · rhyme · mabelC · café · tableC · flyD · refuseE · iD · museE · came · pourF · photography · warF
- 7 -----A-A flows · table · swamp · babel · flood · beforeA · words · shoreA
- 8 --A-A-A-A going · go · awayA · trash · layA · ogre · dayA · well · dayA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| One day beneathe a willowe tree, | 8 | ········ |
| Love met a mayde moste faire to see; | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| “Come play at hyde and seeke,” cried he. | 8 | ········ |
| “With alle my hearte!”--quoth she. | 6 | ······ |
| “I’m it!” Love cries, and rounde hys eyes | 8 | ········ |
| A scarfe the maiden bindeth, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| And inne and oute and rounde aboute | 8 | ········ |
| Ye willowe trees he windeth-- | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Yette ne’er the maiden findeth. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Stille inne and oute and rounde aboute, | 8 | ········ |
| And stille no maiden meetinge; | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Till, piqued, ye rogue unbinds hys eyes, | 8 | ········ |
| And, perched upon a branch, espies | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Ye mayde retreatinge; | 5 | ····· |
| “Fie! Fie!” cries Love--“you’re cheetinge!” | 7 | ······· |
| “Now, you,” quothe he, “must seeke for me!” | 8 | ········ |
| She binds her eyes, assentinge, | 7 | ······· |
| And inne and oute and rounde aboute, | 8 | ········ |
| Seeks she for Love relentinge-- | 7 | ······· |
| But Love, they say--alas, ye day! | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Has spread his wings and flown away, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And left ye mayde lamentinge, | 7 | ······· |
| And left ye mayde repentinge. | 7 | ······· |
| He sits before me as I write, | 8 | ········ |
| And talks of this and that, | 6 | ······ |
| And all my thoughts are put to flight | 8 | ········ |
| By his infernal chat. | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| I came to write a tender rhyme | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To Phyllis or to Mabel, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| And chose in this retired café | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| The most secluded table. | 7 | ··˘/˘/˘ |
| He came before I’d time to fly, | 8 | ········ |
| And ere I could refuse, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Had filled the very chair that I | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Was keeping for the muse! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Then came the deluge--down it came | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| In one unceasing pour-- | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Of science, crops, photography, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Religion, soups, and war. | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| 1.30--Forsooth the flood of words that flows | 8 | ˘/······ |
| From this secluded table | 7 | ··˘/˘/˘ |
| Will soon be great enough to swamp | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| A dozen towers of Babel. | 8 | ·/˘/˘·/˘ |
| 2.30--And still he stays, and still the flood | 8 | ········ |
| Is rising as before; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| 3-- The world is now a sea of words | 8 | ········ |
| 3.30-- Without a sign of shore. | 6 | ······ |
| 6-- Great Scott! He’s going! | 5 | ···/˘ |
| “No, must you go? | 4 | ···· |
| Don’t tear yourself away! | 6 | ··˘/˘/ |
| What have I written? Oh, some trash-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A sort of Fairy-lay, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Of how a dreadful ogre | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Caught a luckless youth one day, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And drowned him in a flood of--well, | 8 | ········ |
| If you must go--good day!” | 6 | ······ |
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.