The Penitent
I had a little Sorrow,Born of a little Sin,I found a room all damp with gloomAnd shut us all within;And, “Little Sorrow, weep,” said I,“And, Little Sin, pray God to die,And I upon the floor will lieAnd think how bad I’ve been!”
Alas for pious planning--It mattered not a whit!As far as gloom went in that room,The lamp might have been lit!My Little Sorrow would not weep,My Little Sin would go to sleep--To save my soul I could not keepMy graceless mind on it!
So up I got in anger,And took a book I had,And put a ribbon on my hairTo please a passing lad.And, “One thing there’s no getting by--I’ve been a wicked girl,” said I;“But if I can’t be sorry, why,I might as well be glad!”
Words in this poem
- whit n.
- The smallest part or particle imaginable; a bit; a jot; an iota; -- generally used in an adverbial phrase in a negative sentence. [OE. wight, wiht, AS. wiht a creature, a thing. See Wight, and cf. Aught, Naught.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- graceless a.
- Wanting in grace or excellence; departed from, or deprived of, divine grace; hence, depraved; corrupt.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Penitent is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #59167; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edna St. Vincent Millay, The Penitent, in Poems (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59167, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/millay-poems/the-penitent.html, id L24353.
Form and metre
The Penitent is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
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-ABBBA sorrow · sinA · gloom · withinA · iB · dieB · lieB · beenA
- 2 -A-ABBBA planning · whitA · room · litA · weepB · sleepB · keepB · itA
- 3 -A-ABBBA anger · hadA · hair · ladA · byB · iB · whyB · gladA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I had a little Sorrow, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Born of a little Sin, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I found a room all damp with gloom | 8 | ········ |
| And shut us all within; | 6 | ······ |
| And, “Little Sorrow, weep,” said I, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| “And, Little Sin, pray God to die, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And I upon the floor will lie | 8 | ········ |
| And think how bad I’ve been!” | 6 | ······ |
| Alas for pious planning-- | 7 | ˘/·/˘/˘ |
| It mattered not a whit! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| As far as gloom went in that room, | 8 | ········ |
| The lamp might have been lit! | 6 | ······ |
| My Little Sorrow would not weep, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| My Little Sin would go to sleep-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To save my soul I could not keep | 8 | ········ |
| My graceless mind on it! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| So up I got in anger, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And took a book I had, | 6 | ······ |
| And put a ribbon on my hair | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To please a passing lad. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And, “One thing there’s no getting by-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I’ve been a wicked girl,” said I; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| “But if I can’t be sorry, why, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I might as well be glad!” | 6 | ······ |
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.