Absence
My cup is empty to-night,Cold and dry are its sides,Chilled by the wind from the open window.Empty and void, it sparkles white in the moonlight.The room is filled with the strange scentOf wistaria blossoms.They sway in the moon's radianceAnd tap against the wall.But the cup of my heart is still,And cold, and empty.
When you come, it brimsRed and trembling with blood,Heart's blood for your drinking;To fill your mouth with loveAnd the bitter-sweet taste of a soul.
Words in this poem
- chilled a.
- Hardened on the surface or edge by chilling; as, chilled iron; a chilled wheel.
- wistaria n.
- A genus of climbing leguminous plants bearing long, pendulous clusters of pale bluish flowers. [NL.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Absence is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sword Blades and Poppy Seed, Project Gutenberg ebook #1020; 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 Lowell, Absence, in Sword Blades and Poppy Seed (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1020, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lowell-amy-sword-blades/absence.html, id L08217.
Form and metre
Absence is 15 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 77%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.4 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 27% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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--A------ nightA · sides · window · moonlightA · scent · blossoms · radiance · wall · still · empty
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| My cup is empty to-night, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Cold and dry are its sides, | 6 | ······ |
| Chilled by the wind from the open window. | 10 | ······/˘/˘ |
| Empty and void, it sparkles white in the moonlight. | 12 | /˘···/˘···/· |
| The room is filled with the strange scent | 9 | ····˘···· |
| Of wistaria blossoms. | 7 | ·˘/˘˘/˘ |
| They sway in the moon's radiance | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| And tap against the wall. | 6 | ······ |
| But the cup of my heart is still, | 8 | ········ |
| And cold, and empty. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| When you come, it brims | 5 | ····· |
| Red and trembling with blood, | 7 | ··/˘˘·· |
| Heart's blood for your drinking; | 6 | ····/˘ |
| To fill your mouth with love | 6 | ······ |
| And the bitter-sweet taste of a soul. | 9 | ··/˘····· |
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.