Reproach
HAD I but known yesterday,Helen, you could discharge the acheOut of the cloud;Had I known yesterday you could takeThe turgid electric ache away,Drink it up with your proudWhite body, as lovely white lightningIs drunk from an agonised sky by the earth,I might have hated you, Helen.
But since my limbs gushed full of fire,Since from out of my blood and bonePoured a heavy flameTo you, earth of my atmosphere, stoneOf my steel, lovely white flint of desire,You have no name.Earth of my swaying atmosphere,Substance of my inconstant breath,I cannot but cleave to you.
Since you have drunken up the drearPainful electric storm, and deathIs washed from the blueOf my eyes, I see you beautiful.You are strong and passive and beautiful,I come like winds that uncertain hover;But youAre the earth I hover over.
Words in this poem
- ache n.
- A name given to several species of plants; as, smallage, wild celery, parsley. Holland. [F. ache, L. apium parsley.]
- drear n.
- Sadness; dismalness.
- hover n.
- A cover; a shelter; a protection. Carew. C. Kingsley. [Etymol. doubtful.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Reproach 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, Reproach, in Amores (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22531, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lawrence-amores/reproach.html, id L13585.
Form and metre
Reproach is 26 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 73%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.7 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 42% 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 ABCBAC--- yesterdayA · acheB · cloudC · takeB · awayA · proudC · lightning · earth · helen
- 2 DEFEDFGHI fireD · boneE · flameF · stoneE · desireD · nameF · atmosphereG · breathH · youI
- 3 GHI---I- drearG · deathH · blueI · beautiful · beautiful · hover · youI · over
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 |
|---|---|---|
| HAD I but known yesterday, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Helen, you could discharge the ache | 8 | /˘··/··· |
| Out of the cloud; | 4 | ···· |
| Had I known yesterday you could take | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| The turgid electric ache away, | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘·˘/ |
| Drink it up with your proud | 6 | ······ |
| White body, as lovely white lightning | 9 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| Is drunk from an agonised sky by the earth, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| I might have hated you, Helen. | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| But since my limbs gushed full of fire, | 10 | ·····˘··/˘ |
| Since from out of my blood and bone | 8 | ········ |
| Poured a heavy flame | 5 | ··/˘· |
| To you, earth of my atmosphere, stone | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Of my steel, lovely white flint of desire, | 11 | ···/˘···˘/˘ |
| You have no name. | 4 | ···· |
| Earth of my swaying atmosphere, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Substance of my inconstant breath, | 8 | /˘··˘/˘· |
| I cannot but cleave to you. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Since you have drunken up the drear | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Painful electric storm, and death | 8 | /˘˘/˘··· |
| Is washed from the blue | 5 | ····· |
| Of my eyes, I see you beautiful. | 9 | ······/˘˘ |
| You are strong and passive and beautiful, | 10 | ····/˘·/˘˘ |
| I come like winds that uncertain hover; | 10 | ·····˘/˘/˘ |
| But you | 2 | ·· |
| Are the earth I hover over. | 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.