Return
The days go by, and once again,Among the shadows of his pain,He lingers at the well-known placeThat holds the memory of her face.
But from the clouds of earth that lieBeneath the foot of tall Ma-weiNo signs of her dim form appear,Only the place of death is here.
Statesman's and monarch's eyes have met,And royal robes with tears are wet;Then eastward flies the frantic steedAs on to the Red Wall they speed.
Words in this poem
- steed n.
- A horse, especially a spirited horse for state of war; -- used chiefly in poetry or stately prose. [OE. stede, AS. steda a stud-horse, war horse, fr. stod a stud of breeding steeds; akin to G. stute a mare, Icel. stedda, sto, a stud. *163. See Stud of horses.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Return is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Lute of Jade, Project Gutenberg ebook #390, the L. Cranmer-Byng translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Various, Return, in A Lute of Jade (1909), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #390, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lute-of-jade/return.html, id L15596.
Form and metre
Return is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 AABB againA · painA · placeB · faceB
- 2 --AA lie · wei · appearA · hereA
- 3 AABB metA · wetA · steedB · speedB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The days go by, and once again, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Among the shadows of his pain, | 8 | ···/···· |
| He lingers at the well-known place | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| That holds the memory of her face. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But from the clouds of earth that lie | 8 | ········ |
| Beneath the foot of tall Ma-wei | 8 | ········ |
| No signs of her dim form appear, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Only the place of death is here. | 8 | /˘······ |
| Statesman's and monarch's eyes have met, | 8 | /˘·/···· |
| And royal robes with tears are wet; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Then eastward flies the frantic steed | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| As on to the Red Wall they speed. | 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.