The Hour of Most Desire
It is not in the dayThat I desire you most,Turning to seek your smileFor solace or for joy.
Nor is it in the dark,When I toss restlessly,Groping to find your face,Half waking, half in dream.
It is not while I work,--When, to endear success,Or rob defeat of pain,I weary for your hands.
Nor while from work I rest,And rest is all unrestFor lack of your dear voice,Your laughter, and your lips.
But every hour it isThat I desire you most,--Need you in all my lifeAnd every breath I breathe.
Words in this poem
- solace n.
- Comfort in grief; alleviation of grief or anxiety; also, that which relieves in distress; that which cheers or consoles; relief. [OF. solas, ssoulaz, L. solacium, solatium, fr. solari to comfort, console. Cf. Console, v. t.]
- endear v. t.
- To make dear or beloved.
- defeat v. t.
- To undo; to disfigure; to destroy. [From F. défait, OF. desfait, p. p. ofe défaire, OF. desfaire, to undo; L. dis- + facere to do. See Feat, Fact, and cf. Disfashion.]
- unrest n.
- Want of rest or repose; unquietness; sleeplessness; uneasiness; disquietude.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Hour of Most Desire is in the public domain. This text is taken from New Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #59897; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Charles G. D. Roberts, The Hour of Most Desire, in New Poems (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59897, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/roberts-new-poems/the-hour-of-most-desire.html, id L11134.
Form and metre
The Hour of Most Desire is 20 lines in 5 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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.
- 4 AA-- restA · unrestA · voice · lips
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 |
|---|---|---|
| It is not in the day | 6 | ······ |
| That I desire you most, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Turning to seek your smile | 6 | /˘···· |
| For solace or for joy. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Nor is it in the dark, | 6 | ······ |
| When I toss restlessly, | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Groping to find your face, | 6 | /˘···· |
| Half waking, half in dream. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| It is not while I work,-- | 6 | ······ |
| When, to endear success, | 6 | ··˘/˘/ |
| Or rob defeat of pain, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| I weary for your hands. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Nor while from work I rest, | 6 | ······ |
| And rest is all unrest | 6 | ····˘/ |
| For lack of your dear voice, | 6 | ······ |
| Your laughter, and your lips. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| But every hour it is | 6 | ·/˘/·· |
| That I desire you most,-- | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Need you in all my life | 6 | ······ |
| And every breath I breathe. | 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.