Rachel
You loved her, and would lie all nightThinking how beautiful she was,And what to do for her delight.Now both are bound with alien laws!Be patient; put your heart to school;Weep if you will, but not despair;The trust that nought goes wrong by ruleShould ease this load the many bear.Love, if there’s heav’n, shall meet his dues,Though here unmatch’d, or match’d amiss;Meanwhile, the gentle cannot chooseBut learn to love the lips they kiss.Ne’er hurt the homely sister’s earsWith Rachel’s beauties; secret beThe lofty mind whose lonely tearsProtest against mortality.
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,]
- meanwhile n.
- The intervening time; as, in the meantime (or mean time).
- homely a.
- Belonging to, or having the characteristics of, home; domestic; familiar; intimate. [From Home, n.]
- mortality n.
- The condition or quality of being mortal; subjection to death or to the necessity of dying. [L. mortalitas: cf. F. mortalité.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Rachel is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Angel in the House, Project Gutenberg ebook #4099; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Coventry Patmore, Rachel, in The Angel in the House (1854–1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4099, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/patmore-angel/rachel.html, id L12292.
Form and metre
Rachel is 16 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 38% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABABCDCDEFEFG-G- nightA · wasB · delightA · lawsB · schoolC · despairD · ruleC · bearD · duesE · amissF · chooseE · kissF · earsG · be · tearsG · mortality
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 |
|---|---|---|
| You loved her, and would lie all night | 8 | ········ |
| Thinking how beautiful she was, | 8 | /˘·/˘˘·· |
| And what to do for her delight. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Now both are bound with alien laws! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Be patient; put your heart to school; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Weep if you will, but not despair; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The trust that nought goes wrong by rule | 8 | ········ |
| Should ease this load the many bear. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Love, if there’s heav’n, shall meet his dues, | 8 | ········ |
| Though here unmatch’d, or match’d amiss; | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| Meanwhile, the gentle cannot choose | 8 | /··/˘/˘· |
| But learn to love the lips they kiss. | 8 | ········ |
| Ne’er hurt the homely sister’s ears | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| With Rachel’s beauties; secret be | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| The lofty mind whose lonely tears | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Protest against mortality. | 8 | ˘/··˘/˘˘ |
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.