Love Song
Dear absurd child--too dear to my cost I've found--God made your soul for pleasure, not for use:It cleaves no way, but angled broad obtuse,Impinges with a slabby-bellied soundFull upon life, and on the rind of thingsRubs its sleek self and utters purr and snoreAnd all the gamut of satisfied murmurings,Content with that, nor wishes anything more.
A happy infant, daubed to the eyes in juiceOf peaches that flush bloody at the core,Naked you bask upon a south-sea shore,While o'er your tumbling bosom the hair floats loose.
The wild flowers bloom and die; the heavens go roundWith the song of wheeling planetary rings:You wriggle in the sun; each moment bringsIts freight for you; in all things pleasures abound.
You taste and smile, then this for the next pass over;And there's no future for you and no past,And when, absurdly, death arrives at last,'Twill please you awhile to kiss your latest lover.
Words in this poem
- purr v. i.
- To murmur as a cat. See Pur.
- snore v. i.
- To breathe with a rough, hoarse, nasal voice in sleep. [OE. snoren, AS. snora a snoring; akin to LG. snoren, snorken, snurken, to snore, D. snorken, G. schnarchen to snore, schnarren to rattle, MHG. snarren, Sw. snar]
- bask v. i.
- To lie in warmth; to be exposed to genial heat. [OScand. ba to bathe one's self, or perh. bakask to bake one's self, sk being reflexive. See Bath, n., Bake, v. t.]
- wheeling n.
- The act of conveying anything, or traveling, on wheels, or in a wheeled vehicle.
- planetary a.
- Of or pertaining to the planets; as, planetary inhabitants; planetary motions; planetary year. [Cf. L. planetarius an astrologer, F. planétaire planetary. See Planet.]
- absurdly adv.
- In an absurd manner.
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Love Song 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, Love Song, in The Defeat of Youth, and Other Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #24364, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/huxley-defeat-of-youth/love-song.html, id L22022.
Form and metre
Love Song is 20 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABBA, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
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 ABBACDCD foundA · useB · obtuseB · soundA · thingsC · snoreD · murmuringsC · moreD
- 2 ABBA juiceA · coreB · shoreB · looseA
- 3 ABBA roundA · ringsB · bringsB · aboundA
- 4 -AA- over · pastA · lastA · lover
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Dear absurd child--too dear to my cost I've found-- | 11 | ·˘/········ |
| God made your soul for pleasure, not for use: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| It cleaves no way, but angled broad obtuse, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Impinges with a slabby-bellied sound | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Full upon life, and on the rind of things | 10 | ·········· |
| Rubs its sleek self and utters purr and snore | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And all the gamut of satisfied murmurings, | 11 | ···/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| Content with that, nor wishes anything more. | 11 | ˘/···/˘/˘·· |
| A happy infant, daubed to the eyes in juice | 11 | ·/˘/˘······ |
| Of peaches that flush bloody at the core, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Naked you bask upon a south-sea shore, | 10 | /˘········ |
| While o'er your tumbling bosom the hair floats loose. | 11 | ···/˘/˘···· |
| The wild flowers bloom and die; the heavens go round | 11 | ··/····/˘·· |
| With the song of wheeling planetary rings: | 11 | ····/˘/˘·˘· |
| You wriggle in the sun; each moment brings | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Its freight for you; in all things pleasures abound. | 11 | ·······/˘˘/ |
| You taste and smile, then this for the next pass over; | 11 | ··········· |
| And there's no future for you and no past, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And when, absurdly, death arrives at last, | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/·· |
| 'Twill please you awhile to kiss your latest lover. | 12 | ···˘/···/˘/˘ |
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.