Hearts
A trinket made like a Heart, dear,Of red gold, bright and fine,Was given to me for a keepsake,Given to me for mine.
And another heart, warm and tender,As true as a heart could be;And every throb that stirred itWas always and all for me.
Sailing over the waters,Watching the far blue land,I dropped my golden heart, dear,Dropped it out of my hand!
It lies in the cold blue waters,Fathoms and fathoms deep,The golden heart which I promised,Promised to prize and keep.
Gazing at Life's bright visions,So false, and fair, and new,I forgot the other heart, dear,Forgot it and lost it too!
I might seek that heart for ever,I might seek and seek in vain;--And for one short, careless hour,I pay with a life of pain.
The Heart?--Yes I wore itAs sign and as tokenOf a love that once gave it,A vow that was spoken;But a love, and a vow, and a heartCan be broken.
The Love?--Life and DeathAre crushed into a day,So what wonder that LoveShould as soon pass away--What wonder I saw itFade, fail, and decay.
The Vow?--why what was it,It snapped like a thread:Who cares for the corpseWhen the spirit is fled?Then I said, "Let the Dead riseAnd bury its dead,
"While the true, living futureGrows pure, wise, and strong"So I cast the gold heart,I had worn for so long,In the Lake, and bound on itA Stone--and a Wrong!
Look, this little golden HeartWas a true-love shrineFor a tress of hair; I held them,Heart and tress, as mine,Like the Love which gave the tokenSee to-day the Heart is broken!
Broken is the golden heart,Lost the tress of hair;Ah, the shrine is empty, vacant,Desolate, and bare!So the token should depart,When Love dies within the heart.
Fast and deep the river floweth,Floweth to the west;I will cast the golden trinketIn its cold dark breast,--Flow, oh river, deep and fast,Over all the buried past!
Words in this poem
- trinket v. i.
- To give trinkets; hence, to court favor; to intrigue.
- keepsake n.
- Anything kept, or given to be kept, for the sake of the giver; a token of friendship.
- throb v. i.
- To beat, or pulsate, with more than usual force or rapidity; to beat in consequence of agitation; to palpitate; -- said of the heart, pulse, etc. [OE. ; of uncertain origin; cf. Russ. trepete a trembling, and E. trepidation.]
- corpse n.
- A human body in general, whether living or dead; -- sometimes contemptuosly. [OF. cors (sometimes written corps), F. corps, L. corpus; akin to AS. hrif womb. See Midriff, and cf. Corse, Corselet, Corps, Cuerpo.]
- tress n.
- A braid, knot, or curl, of hair; a ringlet. [OE. tresse, OF. trece, F. tresse, LL. tricia, fr. Gr. tri`cha threefold, because a tress is usually formed by interlacing three pieces; akin to trei^s three. Se]
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Hearts 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, Hearts, in Legends and Lyrics: Second Series (1861), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2304, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/procter-legends-lyrics/hearts.html, id L21810.
Form and metre
Hearts is 66 lines in 13 stanzas. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 dear · fineA · keepsake · mineA
- 2 -A-A tender · beA · it · meA
- 3 -A-A waters · landA · dear · handA
- 4 -A-A waters · deepA · promised · keepA
- 5 -A-A visions · newA · dear · tooA
- 6 -A-A ever · vainA · hour · painA
- 7 ABAB-B itA · tokenB · itA · spokenB · heart · brokenB
- 8 -A-A-A death · dayA · love · awayA · it · decayA
- 9 -A-A-A it · threadA · corpse · fledA · rise · deadA
- 10 -A-A-A future · strongA · heart · longA · it · wrongA
- 11 -A-ABB heart · shrineA · them · mineA · tokenB · brokenB
- 12 AB-BAA heartA · hairB · vacant · bareB · departA · heartA
- 13 -A-ABB floweth · westA · trinket · breastA · fastB · pastB
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 trochaic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| A trinket made like a Heart, dear, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Of red gold, bright and fine, | 6 | ······ |
| Was given to me for a keepsake, | 8 | ·/····/· |
| Given to me for mine. | 6 | /˘···· |
| And another heart, warm and tender, | 9 | ·˘/˘···/˘ |
| As true as a heart could be; | 7 | ······· |
| And every throb that stirred it | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Was always and all for me. | 7 | ·/····· |
| Sailing over the waters, | 7 | /˘···/˘ |
| Watching the far blue land, | 6 | /˘···· |
| I dropped my golden heart, dear, | 8 | ··˘·/˘·· |
| Dropped it out of my hand! | 7 | ·˘····· |
| It lies in the cold blue waters, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Fathoms and fathoms deep, | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| The golden heart which I promised, | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| Promised to prize and keep. | 7 | /˘˘···· |
| Gazing at Life's bright visions, | 7 | /˘···/˘ |
| So false, and fair, and new, | 6 | ······ |
| I forgot the other heart, dear, | 8 | ·˘/·/˘·· |
| Forgot it and lost it too! | 7 | ˘/····· |
| I might seek that heart for ever, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| I might seek and seek in vain;-- | 7 | ······· |
| And for one short, careless hour, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| I pay with a life of pain. | 7 | ······· |
| The Heart?--Yes I wore it | 6 | ······ |
| As sign and as token | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Of a love that once gave it, | 7 | ······· |
| A vow that was spoken; | 6 | ····/˘ |
| But a love, and a vow, and a heart | 9 | ········· |
| Can be broken. | 4 | ··/˘ |
| The Love?--Life and Death | 5 | ····· |
| Are crushed into a day, | 7 | ··˘···· |
| So what wonder that Love | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Should as soon pass away-- | 6 | ····˘/ |
| What wonder I saw it | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Fade, fail, and decay. | 5 | ···˘/ |
| The Vow?--why what was it, | 6 | ······ |
| It snapped like a thread: | 5 | ····· |
| Who cares for the corpse | 5 | ····· |
| When the spirit is fled? | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Then I said, "Let the Dead rise | 7 | ······· |
| And bury its dead, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| "While the true, living future | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Grows pure, wise, and strong" | 5 | ····· |
| So I cast the gold heart, | 6 | ······ |
| I had worn for so long, | 6 | ······ |
| In the Lake, and bound on it | 7 | ······· |
| A Stone--and a Wrong! | 5 | ····· |
| Look, this little golden Heart | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Was a true-love shrine | 5 | ····· |
| For a tress of hair; I held them, | 8 | ········ |
| Heart and tress, as mine, | 5 | ····· |
| Like the Love which gave the token | 8 | ······/˘ |
| See to-day the Heart is broken! | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Broken is the golden heart, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Lost the tress of hair; | 5 | ····· |
| Ah, the shrine is empty, vacant, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Desolate, and bare! | 5 | /˘··· |
| So the token should depart, | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| When Love dies within the heart. | 7 | ······· |
| Fast and deep the river floweth, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Floweth to the west; | 5 | /˘··· |
| I will cast the golden trinket | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| In its cold dark breast,-- | 5 | ····· |
| Flow, oh river, deep and fast, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Over all the buried past! | 7 | ····/˘· |
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.