Twenty years hence my eyes may grow
Twenty years hence my eyes may growIf not quite dim, yet rather so,Still yours from others they shall knowTwenty years hence.Twenty years hence tho' it may hapThat I be call'd to take a napIn a cool cell where thunder-clapWas never heard,There breathe but o'er my arch of grassA not too sadly sigh'd Alas,And I shall catch, ere you can pass,That winged word.
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,]
- sadly adv.
- Wearily; heavily; firmly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Twenty years hence my eyes may grow is in the public domain. This text is taken from Imaginary Conversations and Poems: A Selection, Project Gutenberg ebook #21628; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Walter Savage Landor, Twenty years hence my eyes may grow, in Imaginary Conversations and Poems (1795–1863), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21628, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/landor-poems/twenty-years-hence-my-eyes-may-grow.html, id L12188.
Form and metre
Twenty years hence my eyes may grow is 12 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.9 syllables. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 AAA-BBBCDDDC growA · soA · knowA · hence · hapB · napB · clapB · heardC · grassD · alasD · passD · wordC
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Twenty years hence my eyes may grow | 8 | /˘······ |
| If not quite dim, yet rather so, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Still yours from others they shall know | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Twenty years hence. | 4 | /˘·· |
| Twenty years hence tho' it may hap | 8 | /˘······ |
| That I be call'd to take a nap | 8 | ········ |
| In a cool cell where thunder-clap | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Was never heard, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| There breathe but o'er my arch of grass | 8 | ········ |
| A not too sadly sigh'd Alas, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| And I shall catch, ere you can pass, | 8 | ········ |
| That winged word. | 3 | ··· |
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.