The Silver Lining
When poets sing of lovers’ woes,And blighted lives and throbs and throesAnd yearnings--goodness only knowsIt’s all a pose.
I am a poet too, you know,I too was young once long ago,And wrote such stuff myself, and soI ought to know.
I too found refuge from DespairIn sonnets to Amanda’s fairWhite brow or Nell’s complexion rareOr Titian hair--
Which, when she scorned, did I resignTo flames, and go into decline?Not much! When sonnets fetched per lineEnough to dine.
So, reader, when you read in printA poet’s woe--beware and stintYour tears--and take this gentle hintIt is his mint.
When Julia’s “fair as flowery mead,”Or when she “makes his heart-strings bleed,”Know then she’s furnishing his feedOr fragrant weed--
And even as you read--who knows?Like cannibal that eats his foes,He dines off Julia’s “heart that froze,”Or “cheek of Rose.”
Words in this poem
- wrote v. i.
- To root with the snout. See 1st Root. [OE. wroten. See 1st Root.]
- ought p. p.
- Was or were under obligation to pay; owed. [Orig. the preterit of the verb to owe. OE. oughte, aughte, ahte, AS. ahte. sq. root110. See Owe.]
- complexion n.
- The state of being complex; complexity. [F. complexion, fr. L. complexio. See Complex, a.]
- dine v. i.
- To eat the principal regular meal of the day; to take dinner. [F. dîner, OF. disner, LL. disnare, contr. fr. an assumed disjunare; dis- + an assumed junare (OF. juner) to fast, for L. jejunare, fr. jejunus fasting. See Jeju]
- beware v. t.
- To avoid; to take care of; to have a care for.
- cannibal n.
- A human being that eats human flesh; hence, any that devours its own kind. Darwin. [Cf. F. cannibale. Columbus, in a letter to the Spanish monarchs written in Oct., 1498, mentions that the people of Hayti lived in great fear of the Caribales (e]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Silver Lining 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, The Silver Lining, in The Bashful Earthquake, and Other Fables and Verses (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56765, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herford-bashful-earthquake/the-silver-lining.html, id L22103.
Form and metre
The Silver Lining is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 woesA · throesA · knowsA · poseA
- 2 AAAA knowA · agoA · soA · knowA
- 3 AAAA despairA · fairA · rareA · hairA
- 4 AAAA resignA · declineA · lineA · dineA
- 5 AAAA printA · stintA · hintA · mintA
- 6 AAAA meadA · bleedA · feedA · weedA
- 7 AAAA knowsA · foesA · frozeA · roseA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When poets sing of lovers’ woes, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And blighted lives and throbs and throes | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And yearnings--goodness only knows | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| It’s all a pose. | 4 | ···· |
| I am a poet too, you know, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I too was young once long ago, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And wrote such stuff myself, and so | 8 | ·····/·· |
| I ought to know. | 4 | ···· |
| I too found refuge from Despair | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| In sonnets to Amanda’s fair | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| White brow or Nell’s complexion rare | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Or Titian hair-- | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Which, when she scorned, did I resign | 8 | ······˘/ |
| To flames, and go into decline? | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Not much! When sonnets fetched per line | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Enough to dine. | 4 | ˘/·· |
| So, reader, when you read in print | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A poet’s woe--beware and stint | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Your tears--and take this gentle hint | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| It is his mint. | 4 | ···· |
| When Julia’s “fair as flowery mead,” | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Or when she “makes his heart-strings bleed,” | 8 | ········ |
| Know then she’s furnishing his feed | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Or fragrant weed-- | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And even as you read--who knows? | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Like cannibal that eats his foes, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| He dines off Julia’s “heart that froze,” | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Or “cheek of Rose.” | 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.