William and Emily
There is something about DeathLike love itself!If with some one with whom you have known passionAnd the glow of youthful love,You also, after years of lifeTogether, feel the sinking of the fireAnd thus fade away together,Gradually, faintly, delicately,As it were in each other’s arms,Passing from the familiar room—That is a power of unison between soulsLike love itself!
About this text
William and Emily is in the public domain. This text is taken from Spoon River Anthology, Project Gutenberg ebook #1280; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edgar Lee Masters, William and Emily, in Spoon River Anthology (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1280, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masters-spoon-river/william-and-emily.html, id L07805.
Form and metre
William and Emily is 12 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 42% 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 -A---------A death · itselfA · passion · love · life · fire · together · delicately · arms · room · souls · itselfA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| There is something about Death | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Like love itself! | 4 | ··˘/ |
| If with some one with whom you have known passion | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| And the glow of youthful love, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| You also, after years of life | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Together, feel the sinking of the fire | 11 | ˘/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| And thus fade away together, | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| Gradually, faintly, delicately, | 10 | /˘˘˘/˘/˘˘˘ |
| As it were in each other’s arms, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Passing from the familiar room— | 8 | /˘··˘/˘· |
| That is a power of unison between souls | 12 | ···/˘·/˘˘··· |
| Like love itself! | 4 | ··˘/ |
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.