The Meeting
We started speaking,Looked at each other, then turned away.The tears kept rising to my eyesBut I could not weep.I wanted to take your handBut my hand trembled.You kept counting the daysBefore we should meet again.But both of us felt in our heartsThat we parted for ever and ever.The ticking of the little clock filled the quiet room.“Listen,” I said. “It is so loud,Like a horse galloping on a lonely road,As loud as that—a horse galloping past in the night.”You shut me up in your arms.But the sound of the clock stifled our hearts’ beating.You said, “I cannot go: all that is living of meIs here for ever and ever.”Then you went.The world changed. The sound of the clock grew fainter,Dwindled away, became a minute thing.I whispered in the darkness, “If it stops, I shall die.”
Words in this poem
- ticking n.
- A strong, closely woven linen or cotton fabric, of which ticks for beds are made. It is usually twilled, and woven in stripes of different colors, as white and blue; -- called also ticken. [From Tick a bed cover. Cf. Ticken.]
- galloping a.
- Going at a gallop; progressing rapidly; as, a galloping horse.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- 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 Meeting is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #59276; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Katherine Mansfield, The Meeting, in Poems (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59276, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mansfield-poems/the-meeting.html, id L27580.
Form and metre
The Meeting is 22 lines in a single stanza.
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---- speaking · away · eyes · weep · hand · trembled · days · again · hearts · everA · room · loud · road · night · arms · beating · me · everA · went · fainter · thing · die
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| We started speaking, | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Looked at each other, then turned away. | 9 | ···/˘··˘/ |
| The tears kept rising to my eyes | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But I could not weep. | 5 | ····· |
| I wanted to take your hand | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| But my hand trembled. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| You kept counting the days | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Before we should meet again. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| But both of us felt in our hearts | 8 | ······/· |
| That we parted for ever and ever. | 9 | ··/˘·/·/˘ |
| The ticking of the little clock filled the quiet room. | 12 | ·/˘··/˘···/· |
| “Listen,” I said. “It is so loud, | 8 | /˘······ |
| Like a horse galloping on a lonely road, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| As loud as that—a horse galloping past in the night.” | 12 | ······/˘···· |
| You shut me up in your arms. | 7 | ······· |
| But the sound of the clock stifled our hearts’ beating. | 12 | ······/˘/·/˘ |
| You said, “I cannot go: all that is living of me | 13 | ···/˘····/˘·· |
| Is here for ever and ever.” | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| Then you went. | 3 | ··· |
| The world changed. The sound of the clock grew fainter, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Dwindled away, became a minute thing. | 10 | /˘˘/˘/·/˘· |
| I whispered in the darkness, “If it stops, I shall die.” | 13 | ·/˘··/˘······ |
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.