Mary Virgin
How came, how came from out thy nightMary, so much lightAnd so much gloom:Who was thy bridegroom?
Thou callest, thou callest and thou hast forgotThat thou the same art notWho came to meIn thy Virginity.
I am still so blossoming, so young.How shall I go on tiptoeFrom childhood to AnnunciationThrough the dim twilightInto thy Garden.
Words in this poem
- bridegroom n.
- A man newly married, or just about to be married. [OE. bridegome, brudgume, AS. br (akin to OS. br, D. bruidegom, bruigom, OHG. pr, MHG. briutegome, G. bräutigam); AS. br bride + guma man, akin to Goth. guma, Ic]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- tiptoe n.
- The end, or tip, of the toe.
- childhood n.
- The state of being a child; the time in which persons are children; the condition or time from infancy to puberty. [AS. cildhad; cild child + -had. See Child, and hood.]
- annunciation n.
- The act of announcing; announcement; proclamation; as, the annunciation of peace. [L. annuntiatio: cf. F. annonciation.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Mary Virgin 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, Mary Virgin, in Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38594, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rilke-poems-lemont/mary-virgin.html, id L27723.
Form and metre
Mary Virgin is 13 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%).
See other poems in iambic 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 AABB nightA · lightA · gloomB · bridegroomB
- 2 AA-- forgotA · notA · me · virginity
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| How came, how came from out thy night | 8 | ········ |
| Mary, so much light | 5 | /˘··· |
| And so much gloom: | 4 | ···· |
| Who was thy bridegroom? | 5 | ···/· |
| Thou callest, thou callest and thou hast forgot | 11 | ·/˘·/˘···˘/ |
| That thou the same art not | 6 | ······ |
| Who came to me | 4 | ···· |
| In thy Virginity. | 6 | ··˘/˘˘ |
| I am still so blossoming, so young. | 9 | ····/˘˘·· |
| How shall I go on tiptoe | 7 | ·····/· |
| From childhood to Annunciation | 6 | ·/···· |
| Through the dim twilight | 5 | ···/· |
| Into thy Garden. | 5 | ···/˘ |
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.