Bliss
Thou lovest me angel! bright as heaven's own beam;Thou lovest me angel! and I do not dream!O tell me why thy lovely countenanceVeiled my blest fate until the parting glance?
Why did that glance so eloquently tellOf a bright welcome and a sad farewell?I felt as one, who a bright temple planned,And built and beautified, and then—'twas banned!
Thee can I not in these fond arms entwine,And press thee to my heart and call thee mine;Thy fragrant lips deny a rosy kiss—I bear away no flowery wreath of bliss.
My life will be a misery, far from thee,And yet one thought of joy shall comfort me;I shall return to bathe in that deep sea,Rich in the white pearls of felicity.
Words in this poem
- veiled a.
- Covered by, or as by, a veil; hidden.
- eloquently adv.
- In an eloquent manner.
- entwine v. t.
- To twine, twist, or wreathe together or round. [Pref. en- + twine. Cf. Intwine.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Bliss is in the public domain. This text is taken from Translations from Alexander Petofi, the Magyar Poet, by Sir John Bowring (London: Trübner & Co., 1866), Internet Archive, the John Bowring translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sándor Petőfi, Bliss, in Translations from Alexander Petofi, the Magyar Poet (1866), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petofi-poems-bowring/bliss.html, id L29827.
Form and metre
Bliss is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%).
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 AABB beamA · dreamA · countenanceB · glanceB
- 2 AABB tellA · farewellA · plannedB · bannedB
- 3 AABB entwineA · mineA · kissB · blissB
- 4 AAA- theeA · meA · seaA · felicity
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thou lovest me angel! bright as heaven's own beam; | 12 | ····/˘··/˘·· |
| Thou lovest me angel! and I do not dream! | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| O tell me why thy lovely countenance | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| Veiled my blest fate until the parting glance? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Why did that glance so eloquently tell | 10 | ·····/˘˘˘· |
| Of a bright welcome and a sad farewell? | 10 | ···/˘····/ |
| I felt as one, who a bright temple planned, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And built and beautified, and then—'twas banned! | 10 | ·········˘ |
| Thee can I not in these fond arms entwine, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And press thee to my heart and call thee mine; | 10 | ·········· |
| Thy fragrant lips deny a rosy kiss— | 10 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| I bear away no flowery wreath of bliss. | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| My life will be a misery, far from thee, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And yet one thought of joy shall comfort me; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I shall return to bathe in that deep sea, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Rich in the white pearls of felicity. | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
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.