The Two Locks of Hair
A youth, light-hearted and content,I wander through the worldHere, Arab-like, is pitched my tentAnd straight again is furled.
Yet oft I dream, that once a wifeClose in my heart was locked,And in the sweet repose of lifeA blessed child I rocked.
I wake! Away that dream,--away!Too long did it remain!So long, that both by night and dayIt ever comes again.
The end lies ever in my thought;To a grave so cold and deepThe mother beautiful was brought;Then dropt the child asleep.
But now the dream is wholly o'er,I bathe mine eyes and see;And wander through the world once more,A youth so light and free.
Two locks--and they are wondrous fair--Left me that vision mild;The brown is from the mother's hair,The blond is from the child.
And when I see that lock of gold,Pale grows the evening-red;And when the dark lock I behold,I wish that I were dead.
Words in this poem
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Two Locks of Hair is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Project Gutenberg ebook #1365; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Two Locks of Hair, in A Psalm of Life, and Other Poems (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/the-two-locks-of-hair.html, id L26177.
Form and metre
The Two Locks of Hair is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 6 of its 7 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter.
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 ABAB contentA · worldB · tentA · furledB
- 2 ABAB wifeA · lockedB · lifeA · rockedB
- 3 ABAB awayA · remainB · dayA · againB
- 4 ABAB thoughtA · deepB · broughtA · asleepB
- 5 -A-A o'er · seeA · more · freeA
- 6 ABAB fairA · mildB · hairA · childB
- 7 ABAB goldA · redB · beholdA · deadB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A youth, light-hearted and content, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| I wander through the world | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Here, Arab-like, is pitched my tent | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And straight again is furled. | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Yet oft I dream, that once a wife | 8 | ········ |
| Close in my heart was locked, | 6 | ······ |
| And in the sweet repose of life | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| A blessed child I rocked. | 5 | ····· |
| I wake! Away that dream,--away! | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| Too long did it remain! | 6 | ····˘/ |
| So long, that both by night and day | 8 | ········ |
| It ever comes again. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| The end lies ever in my thought; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To a grave so cold and deep | 7 | ······· |
| The mother beautiful was brought; | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| Then dropt the child asleep. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| But now the dream is wholly o'er, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I bathe mine eyes and see; | 6 | ······ |
| And wander through the world once more, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A youth so light and free. | 6 | ······ |
| Two locks--and they are wondrous fair-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Left me that vision mild; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The brown is from the mother's hair, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The blond is from the child. | 6 | ······ |
| And when I see that lock of gold, | 8 | ········ |
| Pale grows the evening-red; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And when the dark lock I behold, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| I wish that I were dead. | 6 | ······ |
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.