À Quoi Bon Dire
Seventeen years ago you saidSomething that sounded like Good-bye;And everybody thinks that you are dead,But I.
So I, as I grow stiff and coldTo this and that say Good-bye too;And everybody sees that I am oldBut you.
And one fine morning in a sunny laneSome boy and girl will meet and kiss and swearThat nobody can love their way againWhile over thereYou will have smiled, I shall have tossed your hair.
Words in this poem
- seventeen a.
- One more than sixteen; ten and seven added; as, seventeen years. [OE. seventene, AS. seofontyne, i. e., seven- ten. Cf. Seventy.]
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- nobody n.
- No person; no one; not anybody. [No, a. + body.]
- 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
À Quoi Bon Dire is in the public domain. This text is taken from The farmer's bride, Project Gutenberg ebook #71305; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Charlotte Mew, À Quoi Bon Dire, in The Farmer's Bride (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #71305, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mew-farmers-bride/quoi-bon-dire.html, id L02464.
Form and metre
À Quoi Bon Dire is 13 lines in 3 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.7 syllables. 54% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABAB saidA · byeB · deadA · iB
- 2 ABAB coldA · tooB · oldA · youB
- 3 ABABB laneA · swearB · againA · thereB · hairB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Seventeen years ago you said | 8 | /˘/·˘/·· |
| Something that sounded like Good-bye; | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| And everybody thinks that you are dead, | 10 | ·/˘·˘····· |
| But I. | 2 | ·· |
| So I, as I grow stiff and cold | 8 | ········ |
| To this and that say Good-bye too; | 8 | ········ |
| And everybody sees that I am old | 10 | ·/˘·˘····· |
| But you. | 2 | ·· |
| And one fine morning in a sunny lane | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Some boy and girl will meet and kiss and swear | 10 | ·········· |
| That nobody can love their way again | 10 | ·/······˘/ |
| While over there | 4 | ···· |
| You will have smiled, I shall have tossed your hair. | 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.