Memories of a Childhood
The darkness hung like richness in the roomWhen like a dream the mother entered thereAnd then a glass's tinkle stirred the airNear where a boy sat in the silent gloom.
The room betrayed the mother--so she felt--She kissed her boy and questioned "Are you here?"And with a gesture that he held most dearDown for a moment by his side she knelt.
Toward the piano they both shyly glancedFor she would sing to him on many a night,And the child seated in the fading lightWould listen strangely as if half entranced,
His large eyes fastened with a quiet glowUpon the hand which by her ring seemed bentAnd slowly wandering o'er the white keys wentMoving as though against a drift of snow.
Words in this poem
- shyly adv.
- In a shy or timid manner; not familiarly; with reserve.
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
- strangely adv.
- As something foreign, or not one's own; in a manner adapted to something foreign and strange.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Memories of a Childhood 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, Memories of a Childhood, in Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38594, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rilke-poems-lemont/memories-of-a-childhood.html, id L27741.
Form and metre
Memories of a Childhood is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBA. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 ABBA roomA · thereB · airB · gloomA
- 2 ABBA feltA · hereB · dearB · kneltA
- 3 ABBA glancedA · nightB · lightB · entrancedA
- 4 ABBA glowA · bentB · wentB · snowA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The darkness hung like richness in the room | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| When like a dream the mother entered there | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| And then a glass's tinkle stirred the air | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Near where a boy sat in the silent gloom. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The room betrayed the mother--so she felt-- | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| She kissed her boy and questioned "Are you here?" | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And with a gesture that he held most dear | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Down for a moment by his side she knelt. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Toward the piano they both shyly glanced | 11 | ···˘/˘··/˘· |
| For she would sing to him on many a night, | 10 | ·······/·· |
| And the child seated in the fading light | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Would listen strangely as if half entranced, | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| His large eyes fastened with a quiet glow | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Upon the hand which by her ring seemed bent | 10 | ·········· |
| And slowly wandering o'er the white keys went | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Moving as though against a drift of snow. | 10 | /˘········ |
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.