Expectation
The King's three daughters stood on the terrace,The hanging terrace, so broad and green,Which keeps the sea from the marble Palace,There was Princess May, and Princess Alice,And the youngest Princess, Gwendoline.
Sighed Princess May, "Will it last much longer,Time throbs so slow and my Heart so quick;And oh, how long is the day in dying;Weary am I of waiting and sighing,For Hope deferred makes the spirit sick."
But Princess Gwendoline smiled and kissed her:-"Am I not sadder than you, my Sister?Expecting joy is a happy pain.The Future's fathomless mine of treasures,All countless hordes of possible pleasures,Might bring their store to my feet in vain."
Sighed Princess Alice as night grew nearer:-"So soon, so soon, is the daylight fled!And oh, how fast comes the dark to-morrow,Who hides, perhaps in her veil of sorrow,The terrible hour I wait and dread!"
But Princess Gwendoline kissed her, sighing,--"It is only Life that can fear dying;Possible loss means possible gain.Those who still dread, are not quite forsaken;But not to fear, because all is taken,Is the loneliest depth of human pain."
Words in this poem
- princess n.
- A female prince; a woman having sovereign power, or the rank of a prince. [F. princesse. See Prince, and cf. Princesse.]
- fathomless a.
- Incapable of being fathomed; immeasurable; that can not be sounded.
- countless a.
- Incapable of being counted; not ascertainable; innumerable.
- daylight n.
- The light of day as opposed to the darkness of night; the light of the sun, as opposed to that of the moon or to artificial light.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Expectation is in the public domain. This text is taken from Legends and Lyrics. Part 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #2304; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Adelaide Anne Procter, Expectation, in Legends and Lyrics: Second Series (1861), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2304, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/procter-legends-lyrics/expectation.html, id L21799.
Form and metre
Expectation is 27 lines in 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%).
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 --AA- terrace · green · palaceA · aliceA · gwendoline
- 2 -ABBA longer · quickA · dyingB · sighingB · sickA
- 3 --ABBA her · sister · painA · treasuresB · pleasuresB · vainA
- 4 -ABBA nearer · fledA · morrowB · sorrowB · dreadA
- 5 AABCCB sighingA · dyingA · gainB · forsakenC · takenC · painB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The King's three daughters stood on the terrace, | 10 | ···/˘···/˘ |
| The hanging terrace, so broad and green, | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| Which keeps the sea from the marble Palace, | 10 | ······/˘/˘ |
| There was Princess May, and Princess Alice, | 10 | ··/˘··/˘/˘ |
| And the youngest Princess, Gwendoline. | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| Sighed Princess May, "Will it last much longer, | 10 | ·/˘·····/˘ |
| Time throbs so slow and my Heart so quick; | 9 | ········· |
| And oh, how long is the day in dying; | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Weary am I of waiting and sighing, | 10 | /˘···/˘·/˘ |
| For Hope deferred makes the spirit sick." | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| But Princess Gwendoline smiled and kissed her:- | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| "Am I not sadder than you, my Sister? | 10 | ···/˘···/˘ |
| Expecting joy is a happy pain. | 9 | ˘/˘···/˘· |
| The Future's fathomless mine of treasures, | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘··/˘ |
| All countless hordes of possible pleasures, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘/˘ |
| Might bring their store to my feet in vain." | 9 | ········· |
| Sighed Princess Alice as night grew nearer:- | 10 | ·/˘/˘···/˘ |
| "So soon, so soon, is the daylight fled! | 9 | ······/·· |
| And oh, how fast comes the dark to-morrow, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Who hides, perhaps in her veil of sorrow, | 10 | ··˘/····/˘ |
| The terrible hour I wait and dread!" | 10 | ·/˘˘/˘···· |
| But Princess Gwendoline kissed her, sighing,-- | 10 | ·/˘·····/˘ |
| "It is only Life that can fear dying; | 10 | ··/˘····/˘ |
| Possible loss means possible gain. | 9 | /˘˘··/˘˘· |
| Those who still dread, are not quite forsaken; | 10 | ·······˘/˘ |
| But not to fear, because all is taken, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Is the loneliest depth of human pain." | 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.