More Love
I long for more of love—without the flowerOf what avail the garden? what, in truth,Without youth's fairest rose—life's sweetest dower—Love, holy love, O what were life or youth?
I loved, but sadness came with love, and stilledMy spirit into silence; yet I deemedThat silent sadness which my spirit filledThe sweetest dream that fancy ever dreamed.
O heaven! if sad and silent love like this,Had in it such delight, such extasy?What must the brightness be, and what the blissOf love, from silence and from sadness free?
My heart is like a bird, that here and thereHomelessly wandering, fain would build a nest;O could I find some maiden's bosom, whereMy wandering spirit might find love and rest!
Were this my blessed, blessed destiny,Should I forget the dear departed—No!Flowers opening at the mountain's foot may lie,Whose head is covered with th' unmelted snow!
Words in this poem
- sadness n.
- Heaviness; firmness.
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
More Love 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, More Love, in Translations from Alexander Petofi, the Magyar Poet (1866), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petofi-poems-bowring/more-love.html, id L29807.
Form and metre
More Love is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 -A-A flower · truthA · dower · youthA
- 2 ABAB stilledA · deemedB · filledA · dreamedB
- 3 ABAB thisA · extasyB · blissA · freeB
- 4 ABAB thereA · nestB · whereA · restB
- 5 -A-A destiny · noA · lie · snowA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I long for more of love—without the flower | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Of what avail the garden? what, in truth, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Without youth's fairest rose—life's sweetest dower— | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Love, holy love, O what were life or youth? | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| I loved, but sadness came with love, and stilled | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| My spirit into silence; yet I deemed | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| That silent sadness which my spirit filled | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| The sweetest dream that fancy ever dreamed. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| O heaven! if sad and silent love like this, | 10 | ·/···/˘··· |
| Had in it such delight, such extasy? | 10 | ····˘/·/˘˘ |
| What must the brightness be, and what the bliss | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Of love, from silence and from sadness free? | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| My heart is like a bird, that here and there | 10 | ·········· |
| Homelessly wandering, fain would build a nest; | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| O could I find some maiden's bosom, where | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| My wandering spirit might find love and rest! | 10 | ·/˘˘/····· |
| Were this my blessed, blessed destiny, | 10 | ····˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Should I forget the dear departed—No! | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘· |
| Flowers opening at the mountain's foot may lie, | 10 | //˘··/˘··· |
| Whose head is covered with th' unmelted snow! | 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.