Stanzas
Is there a bitter pang for love removed,O God! The dead love doth not cost more tearsThan the alive, the loving, the beloved--Not yet, not yet beyond all hopes and fears!Would I were laidUnder the shadeOf the calm grave, and the long grass of years,--
That love might die with sorrow:--I am sorrow;And she, that loves me tenderest, doth pressMost poison from my cruel lips, and borrowOnly new anguish from the old caress;Oh, this world's griefHath no relief
In being wrung from a great happiness.Would I had never filled thine eyes with love,For love is only tears: would I had neverBreathed such a curse-like blessing as we prove;Now, if "Farewell" could bless thee, I would sever!Would I were laidUnder the shadeOf the cold tomb, and the long grass forever!
Words in this poem
- borrow v. t.
- To receive from another as a loan, with the implied or expressed intention of returning the identical article or its equivalent in kind; -- the opposite of lend. [OE. borwen, AS. borgian, fr. borg, borh, pledge; akin to D. borg, G. borg; prob. fr. root of AS. beorgan to protect. Borough.]
- caress n.
- An act of endearment; any act or expression of affection; an embracing, or touching, with tenderness. [F. caresse, It. carezza, LL. caritia dearness, fr. L. carus dear. See Charity.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Stanzas is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Thomas Hood, Project Gutenberg ebook #15652; 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, Stanzas, in The Song of the Shirt, and Other Poems (1826–1845), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #15652, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hood-poetical-works/stanzas.html, id L20097.
Form and metre
Stanzas is 21 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See 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 -A-ABBA removed · tearsA · beloved · fearsA · laidB · shadeB · yearsA
- 2 -A-ABB sorrow · pressA · borrow · caressA · griefB · reliefB
- 3 -ABABCCB happiness · loveA · neverB · proveA · severB · laidC · shadeC · foreverB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Is there a bitter pang for love removed, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| O God! The dead love doth not cost more tears | 10 | ·········· |
| Than the alive, the loving, the beloved-- | 10 | ··˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| Not yet, not yet beyond all hopes and fears! | 10 | ·········· |
| Would I were laid | 4 | ···· |
| Under the shade | 4 | ···· |
| Of the calm grave, and the long grass of years,-- | 10 | ·········· |
| That love might die with sorrow:--I am sorrow; | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| And she, that loves me tenderest, doth press | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Most poison from my cruel lips, and borrow | 10 | ·/˘··/··/· |
| Only new anguish from the old caress; | 10 | /˘·/˘···˘/ |
| Oh, this world's grief | 4 | ···· |
| Hath no relief | 4 | ··˘/ |
| In being wrung from a great happiness. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| Would I had never filled thine eyes with love, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| For love is only tears: would I had never | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Breathed such a curse-like blessing as we prove; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Now, if "Farewell" could bless thee, I would sever! | 11 | ···/·····/˘ |
| Would I were laid | 4 | ···· |
| Under the shade | 4 | ···· |
| Of the cold tomb, and the long grass forever! | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
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.