In Uncertainty to a Lady
I am not one of those who sip,Like a quotidian bock,Cheap idylls from a languid lipPrepared to yawn or mock.
I wait the indubitable word,The great Unconscious Cue.Has it been spoken and unheard?Spoken, perhaps, by you ...?
Words in this poem
- quotidian a.
- Occurring or returning daily; as, a quotidian fever. [OE. cotidian, L. quotidianus, fr. quotidie daily; quotus how many + dies day: cf. OF. cotidien, F. quotidien. See Quota, Deity.]
- unheard a.
- Not heard; not perceived by the ear; as, words unheard by those present.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In Uncertainty to a Lady is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Defeat of Youth, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #24364; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Aldous Huxley, In Uncertainty to a Lady, in The Defeat of Youth, and Other Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #24364, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/huxley-defeat-of-youth/in-uncertainty-to-a-lady.html, id L22027.
Form and metre
In Uncertainty to a Lady is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
See other poems in 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 sipA · bockB · lipA · mockB
- 2 ABAB wordA · cueB · unheardA · youB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I am not one of those who sip, | 8 | ········ |
| Like a quotidian bock, | 7 | ··˘/˘˘· |
| Cheap idylls from a languid lip | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Prepared to yawn or mock. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| I wait the indubitable word, | 9 | ···˘/˘˘˘· |
| The great Unconscious Cue. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Has it been spoken and unheard? | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Spoken, perhaps, by you ...? | 6 | /˘˘/·· |
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.