I Remember, I Remember
I remember, I rememberThe house where I was born,The little window where the sunCame peeping in at morn;He never came a wink too soonNor brought too long a day;But now, I often wish the nightHad borne my breath away.
I remember, I rememberThe roses, red and white,The violets, and the lily-cups--Those flowers made of light!The lilacs where the robin built,And where my brother setThe laburnum on his birthday,--The tree is living yet!
I remember, I rememberWhere I was used to swing,And thought the air must rush as freshTo swallows on the wing;My spirit flew in feathers thenThat is so heavy now,And summer pools could hardly coolThe fever on my brow.
I remember, I rememberThe fir trees dark and high;I used to think their slender topsWere close against the sky:It was a childish ignorance,But now ’tis little joyTo know I’m farther off from HeavenThan when I was a boy.
Words in this poem
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- laburnum n.
- A small leguminous tree (Cytisus Laburnum), native of the Alps. [L.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
I Remember, I Remember is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Every Child Should Know The What-Every-Child-Should-Know-Library, Project Gutenberg ebook #16436; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Mary E. Burt, I Remember, I Remember, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/i-remember-i-remember.html, id L25253.
Form and metre
I Remember, I Remember is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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-B-B remember · bornA · sun · mornA · soon · dayB · night · awayB
- 2 -A-A-B-B remember · whiteA · cups · lightA · built · setB · birthday · yetB
- 3 -A-A-B-B remember · swingA · fresh · wingA · then · nowB · cool · browB
- 4 -A-A-B-B remember · highA · tops · skyA · ignorance · joyB · heaven · boyB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I remember, I remember | 8 | ·˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| The house where I was born, | 6 | ······ |
| The little window where the sun | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Came peeping in at morn; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| He never came a wink too soon | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Nor brought too long a day; | 6 | ······ |
| But now, I often wish the night | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Had borne my breath away. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| I remember, I remember | 8 | ·˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| The roses, red and white, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The violets, and the lily-cups-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Those flowers made of light! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The lilacs where the robin built, | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| And where my brother set | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The laburnum on his birthday,-- | 8 | ·˘/˘··/· |
| The tree is living yet! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I remember, I remember | 8 | ·˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Where I was used to swing, | 6 | ······ |
| And thought the air must rush as fresh | 8 | ········ |
| To swallows on the wing; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| My spirit flew in feathers then | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| That is so heavy now, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And summer pools could hardly cool | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The fever on my brow. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I remember, I remember | 8 | ·˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| The fir trees dark and high; | 6 | ······ |
| I used to think their slender tops | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Were close against the sky: | 6 | ······ |
| It was a childish ignorance, | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| But now ’tis little joy | 6 | ···/˘· |
| To know I’m farther off from Heaven | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Than when I was a boy. | 6 | ······ |
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.