Trysting Time
A pretty girl at time o' gloamingHath whispered me to go and meet herWithout the city gate.I love her, but she tarries coming.Shall I return, or stay and greet her?I burn, and wait.
Truly she charmeth all beholders,'Tis she hath given me this jewel,The jade of my delight;But this red jewel-jade that smoulders,To my desire doth add more fuel,New charms to-night.
She has gathered with her lily fingersA lily fair and rare to see.Oh! sweeter still the fragrance lingersFrom the warm hand that gave it me.
Words in this poem
- gloaming n.
- Twilight; dusk; the fall of the evening. [Scot. & North of Eng., and in poetry.] Hogg. [See Gloom.]
- 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
Trysting Time 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, Trysting Time, in A Lute of Jade (1909), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #390, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lute-of-jade/trysting-time.html, id L15561.
Form and metre
Trysting Time is 16 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 -AB-AB gloaming · herA · gateB · coming · herA · waitB
- 2 ABCABC beholdersA · jewelB · delightC · smouldersA · fuelB · nightC
- 3 ABAB fingersA · seeB · lingersA · meB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A pretty girl at time o' gloaming | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Hath whispered me to go and meet her | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| Without the city gate. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I love her, but she tarries coming. | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Shall I return, or stay and greet her? | 9 | ··˘/····· |
| I burn, and wait. | 4 | ···· |
| Truly she charmeth all beholders, | 9 | /˘·/˘·˘/˘ |
| 'Tis she hath given me this jewel, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| The jade of my delight; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| But this red jewel-jade that smoulders, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| To my desire doth add more fuel, | 10 | ··˘/˘···/˘ |
| New charms to-night. | 4 | ···· |
| She has gathered with her lily fingers | 10 | ··/˘··/˘/˘ |
| A lily fair and rare to see. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Oh! sweeter still the fragrance lingers | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| From the warm hand that gave it me. | 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.