The Exile
The swallow with summerWill wing o'er the seas,The wind that I sigh toWill visit thy trees.The ship that it hastensThy ports will contain,But me!--I must neverSee England again!
There's many that weep there,But one weeps alone,For the tears that are fallingSo far from her own;So far from thy own, love,We know not our pain;If death is between us,Or only the main.
When the white cloud reclinesOn the verge of the sea,I fancy the white cliffs,And dream upon thee;But the cloud spreads its wingsTo the blue heav'n and flies.We never shall meet, love,Except in the skies!
Welcome, dear Heart, and a most kind good-morrow;The day is gloomy, but our looks shall shine:--Flowers I have none to give thee, but I borrowTheir sweetness in a verse to speak for thine.
Here are red roses, gather'd at thy cheeks,--The white were all too happy to look white:For love the rose, for faith the lily speaks;It withers in false hands, but here 'tis bright!
Dost love sweet Hyacinth? Its scented leafCurls manifold,--all love's delights blow double:'Tis said this flow'ret is inscribed with grief,--But let that hint of a forgotten trouble.
I pluck'd the Primrose at night's dewy noon;Like Hope, it show'd its blossoms in the night;--'Twas, like Endymion, watching for the Moon!And here are Sun-flowers, amorous of light!
These golden Buttercups are April's seal,--The Daisy-stars her constellations be:These grew so lowly, I was forced to kneel,Therefore I pluck no Daisies but for thee!
Here's Daisies for the morn, Primrose for gloomPansies and Roses for the noontide hours:--A wight once made a dial of their bloom,--So may thy life be measured out by flowers!
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- 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.]
- withers n.
- The ridge between the shoulder bones of a horse, at the base of the neck. See Illust. of Horse. [Properly, the parts which resist the pull or strain in drawing a load; fr. OE. wither resistance, AS. withre, fr. wither against; akin to G. widerrist withers. ]
- kneel v. i.
- To bend the knee; to fall or rest on the knees; -- sometimes with down. [OE. knelen, cneolien; akin to D. knielen, Dan. knæle. See Knee.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- noontide n.
- The time of noon; midday. [From noon + tide time; cf. AS. n the ninth hour.]
- wight n.
- A whit; a bit; a jot. [OE. wight, wiht, a wight, a whit, AS. wiht, wuht, a creature, a thing; skin to D. wicht a child, OS. & OHG. wiht a creature, thing, G. wicht a creature, Icel. v]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Exile 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, The Exile, 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/the-exile.html, id L20082.
Form and metre
The Exile is 48 lines in 9 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 5 of its 9 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
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-A-B-B summer · seasA · to · treesA · hastens · containB · never · againB
- 2 -A-A-B-B there · aloneA · falling · ownA · love · painB · us · mainB
- 3 -A-A-B-B reclines · seaA · cliffs · theeA · wings · fliesB · love · skiesB
- 4 -A-A morrow · shineA · borrow · thineA
- 5 ABAB cheeksA · whiteB · speaksA · brightB
- 6 ABAB leafA · doubleB · griefA · troubleB
- 7 ABAB noonA · nightB · moonA · lightB
- 8 ABAB sealA · beB · kneelA · theeB
- 9 ABAB gloomA · hoursB · bloomA · flowersB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The swallow with summer | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| Will wing o'er the seas, | 5 | ····· |
| The wind that I sigh to | 6 | ······ |
| Will visit thy trees. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| The ship that it hastens | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Thy ports will contain, | 5 | ···˘/ |
| But me!--I must never | 6 | ····/˘ |
| See England again! | 5 | ·/˘˘/ |
| There's many that weep there, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| But one weeps alone, | 5 | ···˘/ |
| For the tears that are falling | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| So far from her own; | 5 | ····· |
| So far from thy own, love, | 6 | ······ |
| We know not our pain; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| If death is between us, | 6 | ······ |
| Or only the main. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| When the white cloud reclines | 6 | ····˘/ |
| On the verge of the sea, | 6 | ······ |
| I fancy the white cliffs, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And dream upon thee; | 5 | ····· |
| But the cloud spreads its wings | 6 | ······ |
| To the blue heav'n and flies. | 6 | ······ |
| We never shall meet, love, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Except in the skies! | 5 | ····· |
| Welcome, dear Heart, and a most kind good-morrow; | 11 | /˘·······/˘ |
| The day is gloomy, but our looks shall shine:-- | 10 | ···/˘·/··· |
| Flowers I have none to give thee, but I borrow | 11 | /········/· |
| Their sweetness in a verse to speak for thine. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Here are red roses, gather'd at thy cheeks,-- | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| The white were all too happy to look white: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| For love the rose, for faith the lily speaks; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| It withers in false hands, but here 'tis bright! | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Dost love sweet Hyacinth? Its scented leaf | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Curls manifold,--all love's delights blow double: | 11 | ·/˘···˘/·/˘ |
| 'Tis said this flow'ret is inscribed with grief,-- | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| But let that hint of a forgotten trouble. | 11 | ······˘/˘/˘ |
| I pluck'd the Primrose at night's dewy noon; | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| Like Hope, it show'd its blossoms in the night;-- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| 'Twas, like Endymion, watching for the Moon! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And here are Sun-flowers, amorous of light! | 10 | ····//˘˘·· |
| These golden Buttercups are April's seal,-- | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| The Daisy-stars her constellations be: | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| These grew so lowly, I was forced to kneel, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Therefore I pluck no Daisies but for thee! | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Here's Daisies for the morn, Primrose for gloom | 10 | ·/˘···/··· |
| Pansies and Roses for the noontide hours:-- | 11 | /˘·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| A wight once made a dial of their bloom,-- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| So may thy life be measured out by flowers! | 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.