Perplexity
What modest flower will hesitate to bloom,When the Spring's sweet voiced welcoming bids it "Come!"Woman is Spring, and when she speaks, "O list!"Can love that's bedded in man's heart resist?
Heaven-blue campanula! within thy bellI felt as if my spirit loved to dwell;Danced gaily with thy dancing gaily, whileMy smile was magic-mirrored in thy smile.
Solve thou the question that perplexes me—Am I the loved one? Is another he?As in the autumn, sun and storm contestFor victory, doubts are struggling in my breast.
O tell me! tell me! for my bane or bliss,Whom wilt thou rapture with thy rose-lip kiss?Will thy soft cheek, a cheek more favoured press,While I seek death in the wild wilderness?
O star of beauty! Bless me with thy light,Condemn me not to hopeless, rayless night!Pearl of my heart! accept that heart of mine,And blessings, boundless blessings, shall be thine.
Words in this poem
- voiced a.
- Furnished with a voice; expressed by the voice.
- bedded a.
- Provided with a bed; as, double-bedded room; placed or arranged in a bed or beds.
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- gaily adv.
- Merrily; showily. See gaily. [From Gay.]
- bane v. t.
- To be the bane of; to ruin. Fuller.
- favoured a.
- Countenanced; aided; regarded with kidness; as, a favored friend.
- rayless a.
- Destitute of rays; hence, dark; not illuminated; blind; as, a rayless sky; rayless eyes.
- 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
Perplexity 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, Perplexity, in Translations from Alexander Petofi, the Magyar Poet (1866), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petofi-poems-bowring/perplexity.html, id L29785.
Form and metre
Perplexity is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 4 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
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 bloomA · comeA · listB · resistB
- 2 AABB bellA · dwellA · whileB · smileB
- 3 AABB meA · heA · contestB · breastB
- 4 AA-A blissA · kissA · press · wildernessA
- 5 AABB lightA · nightA · mineB · thineB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| What modest flower will hesitate to bloom, | 10 | ·/˘/·/˘··· |
| When the Spring's sweet voiced welcoming bids it "Come!" | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Woman is Spring, and when she speaks, "O list!" | 10 | /˘········ |
| Can love that's bedded in man's heart resist? | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Heaven-blue campanula! within thy bell | 10 | /·˘/˘˘···· |
| I felt as if my spirit loved to dwell; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Danced gaily with thy dancing gaily, while | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| My smile was magic-mirrored in thy smile. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Solve thou the question that perplexes me— | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Am I the loved one? Is another he? | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| As in the autumn, sun and storm contest | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| For victory, doubts are struggling in my breast. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| O tell me! tell me! for my bane or bliss, | 10 | ·········· |
| Whom wilt thou rapture with thy rose-lip kiss? | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Will thy soft cheek, a cheek more favoured press, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| While I seek death in the wild wilderness? | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| O star of beauty! Bless me with thy light, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Condemn me not to hopeless, rayless night! | 10 | ˘/···/˘/˘· |
| Pearl of my heart! accept that heart of mine, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| And blessings, boundless blessings, shall be thine. | 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.