Love
O Love! what art thou, Love? the ace of hearts,Trumping earth’s kings and queens, and all its suits;A player, masquerading many partsIn life’s odd carnival;--a boy that shoots,From ladies’ eyes, such mortal woundy darts;A gardener pulling heart’s-ease up by the roots;The Puck of Passion--partly false--part real--A marriageable maiden’s “beau ideal.”
O Love! what art thou, Love? a wicked thing,Making green misses spoil their work at school;A melancholy man, cross-gartering?Grave ripe-fac’d wisdom made an April fool?A youngster, tilting at a wedding ring?A sinner, sitting on a cuttie stool?A Ferdinand de Something in a hovel,Helping Matilda Rose to make a novel?
O Love! what art thou, Love? one that is badWith palpitations of the heart--like mine--A poor bewilder’d maid, making so sadA necklace of her garters--fell design!A poet, gone unreasonably mad,Ending his sonnets with a hempen line?O Love!--but whither, now? forgive me, pray;I’m not the first that Love hath led astray.
Words in this poem
- woundy adv.
- Excessively; extremely.
- gardener n.
- One who makes and tends a garden; a horticulturist.
- puck n.
- A celebrated fairy, [OE. pouke; cf. OSw. puke, Icel. puki an evil demon, W. pwca a hobgoblin. Cf. Poker a bugbear, Pug.]
- youngster n.
- A young person; a youngling; a lad.
- sinner n.
- One who has sinned; especially, one who has sinned without repenting; hence, a persistent and incorrigible transgressor; one condemned by the law of God.
- hovel n.
- An open shed for sheltering cattle, or protecting produce, etc., from the weather. Brande & C. [OE. hovel, hovil, prob. a dim. fr. AS. hof house; akin to D. & G. hof court, yard, Icel. hof temple; cf. Prov. E. hove to take shelter, heuf shelter, home.]
- hempen a.
- Made of hemp; as, a hempen cord.
- 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.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Love 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, in Poems (1827–1845), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56712, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hood-poems/love.html, id L06866.
Form and metre
Love is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABABCC, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas; the stanza is the Ottava rima. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in ottava rima, other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABABABCC heartsA · suitsB · partsA · shootsB · dartsA · rootsB · realC · idealC
- 2 ABABABBB thingA · schoolB · garteringA · foolB · ringA · stoolB · hovelB · novelB
- 3 ABABABCC badA · mineB · sadA · designB · madA · lineB · prayC · astrayC
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| O Love! what art thou, Love? the ace of hearts, | 10 | ·········· |
| Trumping earth’s kings and queens, and all its suits; | 10 | /˘········ |
| A player, masquerading many parts | 9 | ·/˘·˘/˘/· |
| In life’s odd carnival;--a boy that shoots, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| From ladies’ eyes, such mortal woundy darts; | 10 | ·/···/˘/˘· |
| A gardener pulling heart’s-ease up by the roots; | 11 | ·/˘/˘······ |
| The Puck of Passion--partly false--part real-- | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| A marriageable maiden’s “beau ideal.” | 10 | ·/˘˘˘/˘·˘/ |
| O Love! what art thou, Love? a wicked thing, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Making green misses spoil their work at school; | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| A melancholy man, cross-gartering? | 9 | ·/˘·˘··/˘ |
| Grave ripe-fac’d wisdom made an April fool? | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| A youngster, tilting at a wedding ring? | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| A sinner, sitting on a cuttie stool? | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| A Ferdinand de Something in a hovel, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| Helping Matilda Rose to make a novel? | 11 | /˘˘/˘····/˘ |
| O Love! what art thou, Love? one that is bad | 10 | ·········· |
| With palpitations of the heart--like mine-- | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| A poor bewilder’d maid, making so sad | 10 | ··˘/˘·/˘·· |
| A necklace of her garters--fell design! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| A poet, gone unreasonably mad, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Ending his sonnets with a hempen line? | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| O Love!--but whither, now? forgive me, pray; | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| I’m not the first that Love hath led astray. | 10 | ········˘/ |
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.