The Tomb of a Young Girl
We still remember! The same as of yoreAll that has happened once again must be.As grows a lemon-tree upon the shore--It was like that--your light, small breasts you bore,And his blood's current coursed like the wild sea.
That god--who was the wanderer, the slimDespoiler of fair women; he--the wise,--But sweet and glowing as your thoughts of himWho cast a shadow over your young limbWhile bending like your arched brows o'er your eyes.
Words in this poem
- yore adv.
- In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
- coursed a.
- Hunted; as, a coursed hare.
- despoiler n.
- One who despoils.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Tomb of a Young Girl 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, The Tomb of a Young Girl, in Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38594, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rilke-poems-lemont/the-tomb-of-a-young-girl.html, id L27754.
Form and metre
The Tomb of a Young Girl is 11 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
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 ABAAB yoreA · beB · shoreA · boreA · seaB
- 2 -ABAAB god · slimA · wiseB · himA · limbA · eyesB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| We still remember! The same as of yore | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| All that has happened once again must be. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| As grows a lemon-tree upon the shore-- | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| It was like that--your light, small breasts you bore, | 10 | ·········· |
| And his blood's current coursed like the wild sea. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| That god-- | 2 | ·· |
| who was the wanderer, the slim | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Despoiler of fair women; he--the wise,-- | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| But sweet and glowing as your thoughts of him | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Who cast a shadow over your young limb | 10 | ···/······ |
| While bending like your arched brows o'er your eyes. | 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.