Madness
She thinks: I am--Have you not seen?Who are you then, Marie?I am a Queen, I am a Queen!To your knee, to your knee!
And then she weeps: I was--a child--Who were you then, Marie?Know you that I was no man's child,Poor and in rags--said she.
And then a Princess I becameTo whom men bend their knees;To princes things are not the sameAs those a beggar sees.
And those things which have made you greatCame to you, tell me, when?One night, one night, one night quite late,Things became different then.
I walked the lane which presentlyWith strung chords seemed to bend;Then Marie became MelodyAnd danced from end to end.
The people watched with startled mienAnd passed with frightened glanceFor all know that only a QueenMay dance in the lanes: dance!...
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.]
- presently adv.
- At present; at this time; now.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Madness 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, Madness, in Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38594, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rilke-poems-lemont/madness.html, id L27750.
Form and metre
Madness is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%).
See other poems in common measure.
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 seenA · marieB · queenA · kneeB
- 2 ABAB childA · marieB · childA · sheB
- 3 ABAB becameA · kneesB · sameA · seesB
- 4 ABAB greatA · whenB · lateA · thenB
- 5 ABAB presentlyA · bendB · melodyA · endB
- 6 ABAB mienA · glanceB · queenA · danceB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| She thinks: I am--Have you not seen? | 8 | ········ |
| Who are you then, Marie? | 6 | ····˘/ |
| I am a Queen, I am a Queen! | 8 | ········ |
| To your knee, to your knee! | 6 | ······ |
| And then she weeps: I was--a child-- | 8 | ········ |
| Who were you then, Marie? | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Know you that I was no man's child, | 8 | ········ |
| Poor and in rags--said she. | 6 | ······ |
| And then a Princess I became | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| To whom men bend their knees; | 6 | ······ |
| To princes things are not the same | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| As those a beggar sees. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And those things which have made you great | 8 | ········ |
| Came to you, tell me, when? | 6 | ······ |
| One night, one night, one night quite late, | 8 | ········ |
| Things became different then. | 7 | ·˘//˘˘· |
| I walked the lane which presently | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| With strung chords seemed to bend; | 6 | ······ |
| Then Marie became Melody | 8 | ·˘/˘//˘˘ |
| And danced from end to end. | 6 | ······ |
| The people watched with startled mien | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And passed with frightened glance | 6 | ···/˘· |
| For all know that only a Queen | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| May dance in the lanes: dance!... | 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.