Poems
Beating Heart! we come againWhere my Love reposes:This is Mabel’s window-pane;These are Mabel’s roses.
Is she nested? Does she kneelIn the twilight stilly,Lily clad from throat to heel,She, my virgin Lily?
Soon the wan, the wistful stars,Fading, will forsake her;Elves of light, on beamy bars,Whisper then, and wake her.
Let this friendly pebble pleadAt her flowery grating;If she hear me will she heed?_Mabel, I am waiting._
Mabel will be deck’d anon,Zoned in bride’s apparel;Happy zone! O hark to yonPassion-shaken carol!
Sing thy song, thou trancèd thrush,Pipe thy best, thy clearest;--Hush, her lattice moves, O hush--_Dearest Mabel!--dearest ..._
Words in this poem
- kneel v. i.
- To bend the knee; to fall or rest on the knees; -- sometimes with down. [OE. knelen, cneolien; akin to D. knielen, Dan. knæle. See Knee.]
- stilly a.
- Still; quiet; calm.
- clad v.
- To clothe. Holland.
- wistful a.
- Longing; wishful; desirous. [For wishful; perhaps influenced by wistly, which is probably corrupted from OE. wisly certainly (from Icel. viss certain, akin to E. wit). See Wish.]
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
- beamy a.
- Emitting beams of light; radiant; shining.
- anon adv.
- Straightway; at once. [OE. anoon, anon, anan, lit., in one (moment), fr. AS. on in + an one. See On and One.]
- zoned a.
- Wearing a zone, or girdle.
- carol v. t.
- To praise or celebrate in song.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Poems is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900, Project Gutenberg ebook #66619; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Frederick Locker-lampson, Poems, (1821–1895), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-frederick-locker-lampson/at-her-window.html, id L16228.
Form and metre
At Her Window is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 4 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.5 syllables. 10 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic trimeter.
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 againA · reposesB · paneA · rosesB
- 2 ABAB kneelA · stillyB · heelA · lilyB
- 3 ABAB starsA · herB · barsA · herB
- 4 ABAB pleadA · gratingB · heedA · waitingB
- 5 -A-A anon · apparelA · yon · carolA
- 6 A-A- thrushA · clearest · hushA · dearest
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 trochaic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Beating Heart! we come again | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| Where my Love reposes: | 6 | ···/·˘ |
| This is Mabel’s window-pane; | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| These are Mabel’s roses. | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Is she nested? Does she kneel | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| In the twilight stilly, | 6 | ··/·/˘ |
| Lily clad from throat to heel, | 7 | /˘····· |
| She, my virgin Lily? | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Soon the wan, the wistful stars, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Fading, will forsake her; | 6 | /˘·˘/· |
| Elves of light, on beamy bars, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Whisper then, and wake her. | 6 | /˘···· |
| Let this friendly pebble plead | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| At her flowery grating; | 7 | ··/˘˘/˘ |
| If she hear me will she heed? | 7 | ······· |
| _Mabel, I am waiting._ | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Mabel will be deck’d anon, | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| Zoned in bride’s apparel; | 7 | ·˘··˘/˘ |
| Happy zone! O hark to yon | 7 | /˘····· |
| Passion-shaken carol! | 6 | /˘/˘/˘ |
| Sing thy song, thou trancèd thrush, | 6 | ······ |
| Pipe thy best, thy clearest;-- | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Hush, her lattice moves, O hush-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| _Dearest Mabel!--dearest ..._ | 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.