Perfidy
HOLLOW rang the house when I knocked on the door,And I lingered on the threshold with my handUpraised to knock and knock once more:Listening for the sound of her feet across the floor,Hollow re-echoed my heart.
The low-hung lamps stretched down the roadWith shadows drifting underneath,With a music of soft, melodious feetQuickening my hope as I hastened to meetThe low-hung light of her eyes.
The golden lamps down the street went out,The last car trailed the night behind;And I in the darkness wandered aboutWith a flutter of hope and of dark-shut doubtIn the dying lamp of my love.
Two brown ponies trotting slowlyStopped at a dim-lit trough to drink:The dark van drummed down the distance slowly;While the city stars so dim and holyDrew nearer to search through the streets.
A hastening car swept shameful past,I saw her hid in the shadow,I saw her step to the curb, and fastRun to the silent door, where lastI had stood with my hand uplifted.She clung to the door in her haste to enter,Entered, and quickly castIt shut behind her, leaving the street aghast.
Words in this poem
- quickening n.
- The act or process of making or of becoming quick.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- clung a.
- Wasted away; shrunken. [Prop. p. p. fr. OE. clingen to wither. See Cling, v. i.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Perfidy 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, Perfidy, in Amores (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22531, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lawrence-amores/perfidy.html, id L13588.
Form and metre
Perfidy is 28 lines in 5 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 70%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.2 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 39% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 A-AA- doorA · hand · moreA · floorA · heart
- 2 --AA- road · underneath · feetA · meetA · eyes
- 3 A-AA- outA · behind · aboutA · doubtA · love
- 4 A-AA- slowlyA · drink · slowlyA · holyA · streets
- 5 A-AA--AA pastA · shadow · fastA · lastA · uplifted · enter · castA · aghastA
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| HOLLOW rang the house when I knocked on the door, | 11 | /˘········· |
| And I lingered on the threshold with my hand | 11 | ··/˘··/···· |
| Upraised to knock and knock once more: | 9 | ··˘······ |
| Listening for the sound of her feet across the floor, | 12 | /˘······˘/·· |
| Hollow re-echoed my heart. | 7 | /˘·/˘·· |
| The low-hung lamps stretched down the road | 9 | ·····˘··· |
| With shadows drifting underneath, | 8 | ·/·/˘·˘/ |
| With a music of soft, melodious feet | 10 | ··/˘··˘/˘· |
| Quickening my hope as I hastened to meet | 10 | /˘····/˘·· |
| The low-hung light of her eyes. | 7 | ······· |
| The golden lamps down the street went out, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| The last car trailed the night behind; | 9 | ····˘···· |
| And I in the darkness wandered about | 10 | ····/˘/˘·· |
| With a flutter of hope and of dark-shut doubt | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| In the dying lamp of my love. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Two brown ponies trotting slowly | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Stopped at a dim-lit trough to drink: | 9 | ·˘······· |
| The dark van drummed down the distance slowly; | 10 | ······/˘/˘ |
| While the city stars so dim and holy | 10 | ··/˘····/˘ |
| Drew nearer to search through the streets. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A hastening car swept shameful past, | 9 | ·/˘˘··/˘· |
| I saw her hid in the shadow, | 8 | ······/· |
| I saw her step to the curb, and fast | 9 | ········· |
| Run to the silent door, where last | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I had stood with my hand uplifted. | 9 | ······/˘˘ |
| She clung to the door in her haste to enter, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Entered, and quickly cast | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| It shut behind her, leaving the street aghast. | 11 | ·····/˘··˘/ |
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.