Renouncement
I must not think of thee; and, tired yet strong,I shun the thought that lurks in all delight--The thought of thee--and in the blue Heaven's height,And in the sweetest passage of a song.
Oh, just beyond the fairest thoughts that throngThis breast, the thought of thee waits, hidden yet bright;But it must never, never come in sight;I must stop short of thee the whole day long.
But when sleep comes to close each difficult day,When night gives pause to the long watch I keep,And all my bonds I needs must loose apart,
Must doff my will as raiment laid away,--With the first dream that comes with the first sleepI run, I run, I am gathered to thy heart.
Words in this poem
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- doff v. t.
- To put off, as dress; to divest one's self of; hence, figuratively, to put or thrust away; to rid one's self of. And made us doff our easy robes of peace. [Do + off. See Do, v. t., 7.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Renouncement is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #1186; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Alice Meynell, Renouncement, in Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1186, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/meynell-poems/renouncement.html, id L12884.
Form and metre
Renouncement is 14 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABBA, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 14% 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 ABBA strongA · delightB · heightB · songA
- 2 ABBA throngA · brightB · sightB · longA
- 3 CDE dayC · keepD · apartE
- 4 CDE awayC · sleepD · heartE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I must not think of thee; and, tired yet strong, | 10 | ·······/·· |
| I shun the thought that lurks in all delight-- | 10 | ········˘/ |
| The thought of thee--and in the blue Heaven's height, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| And in the sweetest passage of a song. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Oh, just beyond the fairest thoughts that throng | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| This breast, the thought of thee waits, hidden yet bright; | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| But it must never, never come in sight; | 8 | ···//··· |
| I must stop short of thee the whole day long. | 10 | ·········· |
| But when sleep comes to close each difficult day, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| When night gives pause to the long watch I keep, | 10 | ·········· |
| And all my bonds I needs must loose apart, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Must doff my will as raiment laid away,-- | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| With the first dream that comes with the first sleep | 10 | ·········· |
| I run, I run, I am gathered to thy heart. | 11 | ······/˘··· |
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.