Romance
Romance, who loves to nod and sing,With drowsy head and folded wing,Among the green leaves as they shakeFar down within some shadowy lake,To me a painted paroquetHath been—a most familiar bird—Taught me my alphabet to say—To lisp my very earliest wordWhile in the wild wood I did lie,A child—with a most knowing eye.
Of late, eternal Condor yearsSo shake the very heaven on highWith tumult as they thunder by,I have no time for idle caresThrough gazing on the unquiet sky.And when an hour with calmer wingsIts down upon my spirit flings—That little time with lyre and rhymeTo while away—forbidden things!My heart would feel to be a crimeUnless it trembled with the strings.
Words in this poem
- lisp v. i.
- To pronounce the sibilant letter s imperfectly; to give s and z the sound of th; -- a defect common among children. [OE. lispen, lipsen, AS. wlisp stammering, lisping; akin to D. & OHG. lispen to lisp, G. lispeln, Sw. läspa, Dan. lespe.]
- condor n.
- A very large bird of the Vulture family (Sarcorhamphus gryphus), found in the most elevated parts of the Andes. [Sp. condor, fr. Peruvian cuntur.]
- unquiet v. t.
- To disquiet. Ld. Herbert. [1st pref. un- + quiet.]
- calmer n.
- One who, or that which, makes calm.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Romance is in the public domain. This text is taken from The poetical works of Edgar Allan Poe, Project Gutenberg ebook #79019; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edgar Allan Poe, Romance, in The Complete Poetical Works (1827–1849), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #79019, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poe-poems/romance.html, id L04190.
Form and metre
Romance is 21 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 43% 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 AABBCDCDEE singA · wingA · shakeB · lakeB · paroquetC · birdD · sayC · wordD · lieE · eyeE
- 2 -AA-ABBCBCB years · highA · byA · cares · skyA · wingsB · flingsB · rhymeC · thingsB · crimeC · stringsB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Romance, who loves to nod and sing, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| With drowsy head and folded wing, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Among the green leaves as they shake | 8 | ········ |
| Far down within some shadowy lake, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To me a painted paroquet | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Hath been—a most familiar bird— | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Taught me my alphabet to say— | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To lisp my very earliest word | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| While in the wild wood I did lie, | 8 | ········ |
| A child—with a most knowing eye. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of late, eternal Condor years | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| So shake the very heaven on high | 8 | ···/˘/·· |
| With tumult as they thunder by, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| I have no time for idle cares | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Through gazing on the unquiet sky. | 9 | ·/˘··˘/˘· |
| And when an hour with calmer wings | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| Its down upon my spirit flings— | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That little time with lyre and rhyme | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To while away—forbidden things! | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| My heart would feel to be a crime | 8 | ········ |
| Unless it trembled with the strings. | 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.