To the Not Impossible Him
How shall I know, unless I goTo Cairo and Cathay,Whether or not this blessed spotIs blest in every way?
Now it may be, the flower for meIs this beneath my nose;How shall I tell, unless I smellThe Carthaginian rose?
The fabric of my faithful loveNo power shall dim or ravelWhilst I stay here,--but oh, my dear,If I should ever travel!
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- carthaginian a.
- Of a pertaining to ancient Carthage, a city of northern Africa.
- ravel v. t.
- To separate or undo the texture of; to take apart; to untwist; to unweave or unknit; -- often followed by out; as, to ravel a twist; to ravel out a sticking. [. ravelen, D. rafelen, akin to LG. rebeln, rebbeln, reffeln.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To the Not Impossible Him 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, To the Not Impossible Him, in Poems (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59167, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/millay-poems/to-the-not-impossible-him.html, id L24348.
Form and metre
To the Not Impossible Him is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 go · cathayA · spot · wayA
- 2 -A-A me · noseA · smell · roseA
- 3 -A-A love · ravelA · dear · travelA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| How shall I know, unless I go | 8 | ········ |
| To Cairo and Cathay, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Whether or not this blessed spot | 8 | ······˘· |
| Is blest in every way? | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| Now it may be, the flower for me | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Is this beneath my nose; | 6 | ······ |
| How shall I tell, unless I smell | 8 | ········ |
| The Carthaginian rose? | 7 | ··˘/˘˘· |
| The fabric of my faithful love | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| No power shall dim or ravel | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Whilst I stay here,--but oh, my dear, | 8 | ········ |
| If I should ever travel! | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
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.