Maiden Melancholy
A young knight comes into my mindAs from some myth of old.
He came! You felt yourself entwinedAs a great storm would round you wind.He went! A blessing undefinedSeemed left, as when church-bells declinedAnd left you wrapt in prayer.You fain would cry aloud--but bindYour scarf about you and tear-blindWeep softly in its fold.
A young knight comes into my mindFull armored forth to fare.
His smile was luminously kindLike glint of ivory enshrined,Like a home longing undivined,Like Christmas snows where dark ways wind,Like sea-pearls about turquoise twined,Like moonlight silver when combinedWith a loved book's rare gold.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- aloud adv.
- With a loud voice, or great noise; loudly; audibly. [Pref. a- + loud.]
- armored a.
- Clad with armor.
- glint n.
- A glimpse, glance, or gleam. [OE. glent.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Maiden Melancholy 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, Maiden Melancholy, in Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38594, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rilke-poems-lemont/maiden-melancholy.html, id L27746.
Form and metre
Maiden Melancholy is 19 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 A- mindA · old
- 2 AAAABAA- entwinedA · windA · undefinedA · declinedA · prayerB · bindA · blindA · fold
- 3 AB mindA · fareB
- 4 AA-AAA- kindA · enshrinedA · undivined · windA · twinedA · combinedA · gold
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.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| A young knight comes into my mind | 8 | ········ |
| As from some myth of old. | 6 | ······ |
| He came! You felt yourself entwined | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| As a great storm would round you wind. | 8 | ········ |
| He went! A blessing undefined | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Seemed left, as when church-bells declined | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And left you wrapt in prayer. | 6 | ······ |
| You fain would cry aloud--but bind | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Your scarf about you and tear-blind | 8 | ········ |
| Weep softly in its fold. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| A young knight comes into my mind | 8 | ········ |
| Full armored forth to fare. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| His smile was luminously kind | 8 | ········ |
| Like glint of ivory enshrined, | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| Like a home longing undivined, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Like Christmas snows where dark ways wind, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Like sea-pearls about turquoise twined, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Like moonlight silver when combined | 8 | ·/·/˘·˘/ |
| With a loved book's rare gold. | 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.