Remember Me

Winthrop Mackworth Praed (1802–1839) · 1820–1839

iambic tetrameter · ABABAB · 24 lines · from Poems

In Seville, when the feast was long,And lips and lutes grew free,At Inez feet, amid the throng,A masquer bent his knee;And still the burden of his songWas “Sweet, remember me!

“Remember me in shine and shower,In sorrow and in glee;When summer breathes upon the flower,When winter blasts the tree,When there are dances in the bowerOr sails upon the sea.

“Remember me beneath far skies,Or foreign lawn or lea;When others worship those wild eyesWhich I no more may see,When others wake the melodiesOf which I mar the key.

“Remember me! my heart will claimNo love, no trust, from thee;Remember me, though doubt and blameLinked with the record be;Remember me,--with scorn or shame,--But yet, remember me!”

Words in this poem

amid prep.
In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
glee n.
Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Remember Me is in the public domain. This text is taken from The poems of Winthrop Mackworth Praed. [selected], Project Gutenberg ebook #71008; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.

Cite as: Winthrop Mackworth Praed, Remember Me, in Poems (1820–1839), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #71008, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/praed-poems/remember-me.html, id L10211.

Form and metre

Remember Me is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% 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. 1 ABABAB longA · freeB · throngA · kneeB · songA · meB
  2. 2 ABABAB showerA · gleeB · flowerA · treeB · bowerA · seaB
  3. 3 ABABAB skiesA · leaB · eyesA · seeB · melodiesA · keyB
  4. 4 ABABAB claimA · theeB · blameA · beB · shameA · meB
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.

LineSyl.Stress
In Seville, when the feast was long,8·˘/·····
And lips and lutes grew free,6······
At Inez feet, amid the throng,8····˘/··
A masquer bent his knee;6······
And still the burden of his song8···/˘···
Was “Sweet, remember me!6··˘/˘·
“Remember me in shine and shower,9˘/˘····/˘
In sorrow and in glee;6·/˘···
When summer breathes upon the flower,9·/˘····/˘
When winter blasts the tree,6·/˘···
When there are dances in the bower9···/˘··/˘
Or sails upon the sea.6······
“Remember me beneath far skies,8˘/˘·····
Or foreign lawn or lea;6·/˘···
When others worship those wild eyes8·/˘/˘···
Which I no more may see,6······
When others wake the melodies8·/˘··/˘˘
Of which I mar the key.6······
“Remember me! my heart will claim8˘/˘·····
No love, no trust, from thee;6······
Remember me, though doubt and blame8˘/˘·····
Linked with the record be;7·˘··/˘·
Remember me,--with scorn or shame,--8˘/˘·····
But yet, remember me!”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.

More by Winthrop Mackworth Praed