Growing Blind
Among all the others there sat a guestWho sipped her tea as if one apart,And she held her cup not quite like the rest;Once she smiled so it pierced one's heart.
When the group of people arose at lastAnd laughed and talked in a merry tone,As lingeringly through the rooms they passedI saw that she followed alone.
Tense and still like one who to sing must riseBefore a throng on a festal nightShe lifted her head, and her bright glad eyesWere like pools which reflected light.
She followed on slowly after the lastAs though some object must be passed by,And yet as if were it once but passedShe would no longer walk but fly.
Words in this poem
- lingeringly adv.
- With delay; slowly; tediously.
- festal a.
- Of or pertaining to a holiday or a feast; joyous; festive. [L. festum holiday, feast. See feast.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Growing Blind is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, translated by Jessie Lemont, with an introduction by H.T. (New York: Tobias A. Wright, 1918), Project Gutenberg ebook #38594, the Jessie Lemont translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Rainer Maria Rilke, Growing Blind, in Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38594, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rilke-poems-lemont/growing-blind.html, id L27757.
Form and metre
Growing Blind is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%).
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 ABAB guestA · apartB · restA · heartB
- 2 ABAB lastA · toneB · passedA · aloneB
- 3 ABAB riseA · nightB · eyesA · lightB
- 4 ABAB lastA · byB · passedA · flyB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Among all the others there sat a guest | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| Who sipped her tea as if one apart, | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| And she held her cup not quite like the rest; | 10 | ·········· |
| Once she smiled so it pierced one's heart. | 8 | ········ |
| When the group of people arose at last | 10 | ····/˘˘/·· |
| And laughed and talked in a merry tone, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| As lingeringly through the rooms they passed | 10 | ·/˘˘˘····· |
| I saw that she followed alone. | 8 | ····/˘˘/ |
| Tense and still like one who to sing must rise | 10 | ·········· |
| Before a throng on a festal night | 9 | ······/˘· |
| She lifted her head, and her bright glad eyes | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Were like pools which reflected light. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| She followed on slowly after the last | 10 | ·/˘·/˘···· |
| As though some object must be passed by, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| And yet as if were it once but passed | 9 | ········· |
| She would no longer walk but fly. | 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.