The Lost Friend
The people take the thing of course,They marvel not to seeThis strange, unnatural divorceBetwixt delight and me.
I know the face of sorrow, and I knowHer voice with all its varied cadences;Which way she turns and treads; how at her easeThinks fit her dreary largess to bestow.
Where sorrow long abides, some be that growTo hold her dear, but I am not of these;Joy is my friend, not sorrow; by strange seas,In some far land we wandered, long ago.
O faith, long tried, that knows no faltering!O vanished treasure of her hands and face!--Beloved--to whose memory I cling,Unmoved within my heart she holds her place.
And never shall I hail that other “friend,”Who yet shall dog my footsteps to the end.
Words in this poem
- betwixt prep.
- In the space which separates; between. [OE. betwix, bitwix, rarely bitwixt, AS. betweox, betweohs, betweoh, betwih; pref. be- by + a form fr. AS. twa two. See Between.]
- dreary a.
- Sorrowful; distressful. [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dreórig, sad; akin to G. traurig, and prob. to AS. dreósan to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf. Dross, Drear, Drizzle, Drowse.]
- largess n.
- Liberality; generosity; bounty. [F. largesse, fr. large. See Large, a.]
- faltering a.
- Hesitating; trembling.
- unmoved a.
- Not moved; fixed; firm; unshaken; calm; apathetic.
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Lost Friend is in the public domain. This text is taken from A London Plane-Tree, and Other Verse, Project Gutenberg ebook #56974; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Amy Levy, The Lost Friend, in A London Plane-Tree, and Other Verse (1889), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56974, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/levy-london-plane-tree/the-lost-friend.html, id L21557.
Form and metre
The Lost Friend is 18 lines in 5 stanzas. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABAB, in 2 of the 5 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 courseA · seeB · divorceA · meB
- 2 ABBA knowA · cadencesB · easeB · bestowA
- 3 ABBA growA · theseB · seasB · agoA
- 4 ABAB falteringA · faceB · clingA · placeB
- 5 AA friendA · endA
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The people take the thing of course, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| They marvel not to see | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| This strange, unnatural divorce | 8 | ··˘/˘˘˘/ |
| Betwixt delight and me. | 6 | ˘/˘/·· |
| I know the face of sorrow, and I know | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Her voice with all its varied cadences; | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| Which way she turns and treads; how at her ease | 10 | ·········· |
| Thinks fit her dreary largess to bestow. | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Where sorrow long abides, some be that grow | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| To hold her dear, but I am not of these; | 10 | ·········· |
| Joy is my friend, not sorrow; by strange seas, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| In some far land we wandered, long ago. | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| O faith, long tried, that knows no faltering! | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| O vanished treasure of her hands and face!-- | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Beloved--to whose memory I cling, | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘˘·· |
| Unmoved within my heart she holds her place. | 10 | ˘/········ |
| And never shall I hail that other “friend,” | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Who yet shall dog my footsteps to the end. | 10 | ·····/···· |
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.