To L. H. B. (1894–1915)
Last night for the first time since you were deadI walked with you, my brother, in a dream.We were at home again beside the streamFringed with tall berry bushes, white and red.“Don’t touch them: they are poisonous,” I said.But your hand hovered, and I saw a beamOf strange, bright laughter flying round your headAnd as you stooped I saw the berries gleam.“Don’t you remember? We called them Dead Man’s Bread!”I woke and heard the wind moan and the roarOf the dark water tumbling on the shore.Where—where is the path of my dream for my eager feet?By the remembered stream my brother standsWaiting for me with berries in his hands ...“These are my body. Sister, take and eat.”
About this text
To L. H. B. (1894–1915) 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, To L. H. B. (1894–1915), in Poems (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59276, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mansfield-poems/to-l-h-b-1894-1915.html, id L27604.
Form and metre
To L. H. B. (1894–1915) is 15 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABABACCDEED. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
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 ABBAABABACCDEED deadA · dreamB · streamB · redA · saidA · beamB · headA · gleamB · breadA · roarC · shoreC · feetD · standsE · handsE · eatD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Last night for the first time since you were dead | 10 | ·········· |
| I walked with you, my brother, in a dream. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| We were at home again beside the stream | 10 | ····˘/˘/·· |
| Fringed with tall berry bushes, white and red. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| “Don’t touch them: they are poisonous,” I said. | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| But your hand hovered, and I saw a beam | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Of strange, bright laughter flying round your head | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And as you stooped I saw the berries gleam. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| “Don’t you remember? We called them Dead Man’s Bread!” | 11 | ··˘/˘······ |
| I woke and heard the wind moan and the roar | 10 | ·········· |
| Of the dark water tumbling on the shore. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Where—where is the path of my dream for my eager feet? | 13 | ··········/˘· |
| By the remembered stream my brother stands | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Waiting for me with berries in his hands ... | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| “These are my body. Sister, take and eat.” | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
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.