Love, with a Witness
He has shav’d off his whiskers and blacken’d his brows,Wears a patch and a wig of false hair,--But it’s him--Oh it’s him!--we exchanged lovers’ vows,When I lived up in Cavendish Square.
He had beautiful eyes, and his lips were the same,And his voice was as soft as a flute--Like a Lord or a Marquis he look’d when he came,To make love in his master’s best suit.
If I lived for a thousand long years from my birth,I shall never forget what he told;How he lov’d me beyond the rich women of earth,With their jewels and silver and gold?
When he kiss’d me and bade me adieu with a sigh,By the light of the sweetest of moons,Oh how little I dreamt I was bidding good-byeTo my Missis’s tea-pot and spoons!
Words in this poem
- cavendish n.
- Leaf tobacco softened, sweetened, and pressed into plugs or cakes. Cut cavendish, the plugs cut into long shreds for smoking.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- missis n.
- A mistress; a wife; -- so used by the illiterate. G. Eliot.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Love, with a Witness is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Comic Poems of Thomas Hood A New and Complete Edition, Project Gutenberg ebook #56712; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Hood, Love, with a Witness, in Poems (1827–1845), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56712, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hood-poems/love-with-a-witness.html, id L06910.
Form and metre
Love, with a Witness is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is anapaestic common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 6% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in anapaestic common measure.
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 ABAB browsA · hairB · vowsA · squareB
- 2 ABAB sameA · fluteB · cameA · suitB
- 3 ABAB birthA · toldB · earthA · goldB
- 4 ABAB sighA · moonsB · byeA · spoonsB
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 anapaestic common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| He has shav’d off his whiskers and blacken’d his brows, | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| Wears a patch and a wig of false hair,-- | 9 | ········· |
| But it’s him--Oh it’s him!--we exchanged lovers’ vows, | 12 | ·······˘//˘· |
| When I lived up in Cavendish Square. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| He had beautiful eyes, and his lips were the same, | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| And his voice was as soft as a flute-- | 9 | ········· |
| Like a Lord or a Marquis he look’d when he came, | 12 | ······/····· |
| To make love in his master’s best suit. | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| If I lived for a thousand long years from my birth, | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| I shall never forget what he told; | 8 | ··/˘/··· |
| How he lov’d me beyond the rich women of earth, | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| With their jewels and silver and gold? | 9 | ··/˘·/˘·· |
| When he kiss’d me and bade me adieu with a sigh, | 12 | ·······˘/··· |
| By the light of the sweetest of moons, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Oh how little I dreamt I was bidding good-bye | 12 | ··/˘····/˘·· |
| To my Missis’s tea-pot and spoons! | 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.