Henri Murger: Old Loves
LOUISE, have you forgotten yetThe corner of the flowery land,The ancient garden where we met,My hand that trembled in your hand?Our lips found words scarce sweet enough,As low beneath the willow-treesWe sat; have you forgotten, love?Do you remember, love Louise?
Marie, have you forgotten yetThe loving barter that we made?The rings we changed, the suns that set,The woods fulfilled with sun and shade?The fountains that were musicalBy many an ancient trysting tree—Marie, have you forgotten all?Do you remember, love Marie?
Christine, do you remember yetYour room with scents and roses gay?My garret—near the sky ’twas set—The April hours, the nights of May?The clear calm nights—the stars aboveThat whispered they were fairest seenThrough no cloud-veil? Remember, love!Do you remember, love Christine?
Louise is dead, and, well-a-day!Marie a sadder path has ta’en;And pale Christine has passed awayIn southern suns to bloom again.Alas! for one and all of us—Marie, Louise, Christine forget;Our bower of love is ruinous,And I alone remember yet.
Words in this poem
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- trysting n.
- An appointment; a tryst. Trysting day, an arranged day of meeting or assembling, as of soldiers, friends, and the like.
- garret n.
- A turret; a watchtower. [OE. garite, garette, watchtower, place of lookout, OF. garite, also meaning, a place of refuge, F. guérite a place of refuge, donjon, sentinel box, fr. OF. gari]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Henri Murger: Old Loves is in the public domain. This text is taken from Ballads and Lyrics of Old France, with Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #795, the Andrew Lang translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Various, Henri Murger: Old Loves, in Ballads and Lyrics of Old France (1872), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #795, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lang-old-france/old-loves.html, id L26913.
Form and metre
Henri Murger: Old Loves is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDCD. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See 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 ABABCDCD yetA · landB · metA · handB · enoughC · treesD · loveC · louiseD
- 2 ABABCDCD yetA · madeB · setA · shadeB · musicalC · treeD · allC · marieD
- 3 ABABCDCD yetA · gayB · setA · mayB · aboveC · seenD · loveC · christineD
- 4 ABABCDCD dayA · ta'enB · awayA · againB · usC · forgetD · ruinousC · yetD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| LOUISE, have you forgotten yet | 8 | ˘/··˘/˘· |
| The corner of the flowery land, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The ancient garden where we met, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| My hand that trembled in your hand? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Our lips found words scarce sweet enough, | 8 | /·····˘/ |
| As low beneath the willow-trees | 8 | ·····/·· |
| We sat; have you forgotten, love? | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Do you remember, love Louise? | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| Marie, have you forgotten yet | 8 | ˘/··˘/˘· |
| The loving barter that we made? | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The rings we changed, the suns that set, | 8 | ········ |
| The woods fulfilled with sun and shade? | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| The fountains that were musical | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| By many an ancient trysting tree— | 8 | ·/·/˘/˘· |
| Marie, have you forgotten all? | 8 | ˘/··˘/˘· |
| Do you remember, love Marie? | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| Christine, do you remember yet | 8 | ˘/··˘/˘· |
| Your room with scents and roses gay? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| My garret—near the sky ’twas set— | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The April hours, the nights of May? | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| The clear calm nights—the stars above | 8 | ········ |
| That whispered they were fairest seen | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Through no cloud-veil? Remember, love! | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Do you remember, love Christine? | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| Louise is dead, and, well-a-day! | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Marie a sadder path has ta’en; | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| And pale Christine has passed away | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| In southern suns to bloom again. | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Alas! for one and all of us— | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Marie, Louise, Christine forget; | 8 | ˘/˘/˘/˘/ |
| Our bower of love is ruinous, | 9 | //˘···/˘˘ |
| And I alone remember yet. | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
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.