Old
I HAVE opened the window to warm my hands on thesillWhere the sunlight soaks in the stone: the afternoonIs full of dreams, my love, the boys are all stillIn a wistful dream of Lorna Doone.
The clink of the shunting engines is sharp and fine,Like savage music striking far off, and thereOn the great, uplifted blue palace, lights stir andshineWhere the glass is domed in the blue, soft air.
There lies the world, my darling, full of wonder andwistfulness and strangeRecognition and greetings of half-acquaint things, asI greet the cloudOf blue palace aloft there, among misty indefinitedreams that rangeAt the back of my life's horizon, where the dreamingsof past lives crowd.
Over the nearness of Norwood Hill, through themellow veilOf the afternoon glows to me the old romance ofDavid and Dora,With the old, sweet, soothing tears, and laughterthat shakes the sailOf the ship of the soul over seas where dreameddreams lure the unoceaned explorer.
All the bygone, hushed yearsStreaming back where the mist distilsInto forgetfulness: soft-sailing waters where fearsNo longer shake, where the silk sail fillsWith an unfelt breeze that ebbs over the seas, wherethe stormOf living has passed, on and onThrough the coloured iridescence that swims in thewarmWake of the tumult now spent and gone,Drifts my boat, wistfully lapsing afterThe mists of vanishing tears and the echo of laughter.
Words in this poem
- afternoon n.
- The part of the day which follows noon, between noon and evening.
- wistful a.
- Longing; wishful; desirous. [For wishful; perhaps influenced by wistly, which is probably corrupted from OE. wisly certainly (from Icel. viss certain, akin to E. wit). See Wish.]
- clink v. t.
- To cause to give out a slight, sharp, tinkling, sound, as by striking metallic or other sonorous bodies together. [OE. clinken; akin to G. klingen, D. klinken, SW. klinga, Dan. klinge; prob. of imitative origin. Cf. Clank, Clench, Click, v. i.]
- domed a.
- Furnished with a dome; shaped like a dome.
- explorer n.
- One who explores; also, an apparatus with which one explores, as a diving bell.
- bygone n.
- Something gone by or past; a past event.
- streaming a.
- Sending forth streams.
- coloured a.
- Having color; tinged; dyed; painted; stained.
- iridescence n.
- Exhibition of colors like those of the rainbow; the quality or state of being iridescent; a prismatic play of color; as, the iridescence of mother-of-pearl. [See Iridescent.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Old is in the public domain. This text is taken from Amores: Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #22531; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: D. H. Lawrence, Old, in Amores (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22531, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lawrence-amores/old.html, id L13552.
Form and metre
Old is 38 lines in 5 stanzas. 86% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.6 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 79% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 the · sillA · afternoonB · stillA · dooneB
- 2 AB-AB fineA · thereB · and · shineA · airB
- 3 -A-B-A-B and · strangeA · as · cloudB · indefinite · rangeA · dreamings · crowdB
- 4 -A---A-- the · veilA · of · dora · laughter · sailA · dreamed · explorer
- 5 ABAB-CD-CDEE yearsA · distilsB · fearsA · fillsB · where · stormC · onD · the · warmC · goneD · afterE · laughterE
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I HAVE opened the window to warm my hands on the | 13 | ··/˘·/˘······ |
| sill | 1 | · |
| Where the sunlight soaks in the stone: the afternoon | 12 | ··/·······˘/ |
| Is full of dreams, my love, the boys are all still | 11 | ··········· |
| In a wistful dream of Lorna Doone. | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| The clink of the shunting engines is sharp and fine, | 12 | ····/˘/˘···· |
| Like savage music striking far off, and there | 11 | ·/˘/˘/˘···· |
| On the great, uplifted blue palace, lights stir and | 11 | ···/˘·/˘··· |
| shine | 1 | · |
| Where the glass is domed in the blue, soft air. | 10 | ·········· |
| There lies the world, my darling, full of wonder and | 12 | ·····/˘··/˘· |
| wistfulness and strange | 5 | /˘˘·· |
| Recognition and greetings of half-acquaint things, as | 13 | ·˘/˘·/˘··˘/·· |
| I greet the cloud | 4 | ···· |
| Of blue palace aloft there, among misty indefinite | 14 | ··/˘˘/···/˘˘/˘ |
| dreams that range | 3 | ··· |
| At the back of my life's horizon, where the dreamings | 13 | ······˘/˘··/˘ |
| of past lives crowd. | 4 | ···· |
| Over the nearness of Norwood Hill, through the | 10 | ··/˘·/˘··· |
| mellow veil | 3 | /˘· |
| Of the afternoon glows to me the old romance of | 13 | ···˘/·····/˘· |
| David and Dora, | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| With the old, sweet, soothing tears, and laughter | 10 | ····/˘··/˘ |
| that shakes the sail | 4 | ···· |
| Of the ship of the soul over seas where dreamed | 10 | ·········· |
| dreams lure the unoceaned explorer. | 10 | ······˘˘/˘ |
| All the bygone, hushed years | 6 | ··/··· |
| Streaming back where the mist distils | 8 | /˘····˘/ |
| Into forgetfulness: soft-sailing waters where fears | 13 | ··˘/˘˘·/˘/˘·· |
| No longer shake, where the silk sail fills | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| With an unfelt breeze that ebbs over the seas, where | 11 | ··········· |
| the storm | 2 | ·· |
| Of living has passed, on and on | 9 | ·/˘··˘··· |
| Through the coloured iridescence that swims in the | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| warm | 1 | · |
| Wake of the tumult now spent and gone, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Drifts my boat, wistfully lapsing after | 10 | ···/˘˘/˘·· |
| The mists of vanishing tears and the echo of laughter. | 13 | ···/˘···/˘·/˘ |
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.