Laurel · Edwin Arlington Robinson · The Children of the Night

Her Eyes

Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935) · 1897

iambic pentameter · ABAB · 36 lines · from The Children of the Night

Up from the street and the crowds that went,Morning and midnight, to and fro,Still was the room where his days he spent,And the stars were bleak, and the nights were slow.

Year after year, with his dream shut fast,He suffered and strove till his eyes were dim,For the love that his brushes had earned at last, --And the whole world rang with the praise of him.

But he cloaked his triumph, and searched, instead,Till his cheeks were sere and his hairs were gray."There are women enough, God knows," he said. . . ."There are stars enough -- when the sun's away."

Then he went back to the same still roomThat had held his dream in the long ago,When he buried his days in a nameless tomb,And the stars were bleak, and the nights were slow.

And a passionate humor seized him there --Seized him and held him until there grewLike life on his canvas, glowing and fair,A perilous face -- and an angel's, too.

Angel and maiden, and all in one, --All but the eyes. -- They were there, but yetThey seemed somehow like a soul half done.What was the matter? Did God forget? . . .

But he wrought them at last with a skill so sureThat her eyes were the eyes of a deathless woman, --With a gleam of heaven to make them pure,And a glimmer of hell to make them human.

God never forgets. -- And he worships herThere in that same still room of his,For his wife, and his constant arbiterOf the world that was and the world that is.

And he wonders yet what her love could beTo punish him after that strife so grim;But the longer he lives with her eyes to see,The plainer it all comes back to him.

Words in this poem

went n.: Course; way; path; journey; direction.
sere n.: Claw; talon. Chapman. [F. serre.]
nameless a.: Without a name; not having been given a name; as, a nameless star.
somehow adv.: In one way or another; in some way not yet known or designated; by some means; as, the thing must be done somehow; he lives somehow.
deathless a.: Not subject to death, destruction, or extinction; immortal; undying; imperishable; as, deathless beings; deathless fame.
strife n.: The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Her Eyes is in the public domain. This text is taken from Children of the Night, Project Gutenberg ebook #313; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.

Cite as: Edwin Arlington Robinson, Her Eyes, in The Children of the Night (1897), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #313, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/robinson-children-of-night/her-eyes.html, id L07981.

Form and metre

Her Eyes is 36 lines in 9 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 7 of its 9 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 70%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.

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 ABAB went^A · fro^B · spent^A · slow^B
2 ABAB fast^A · dim^B · last^A · him^B
3 ABAB instead^A · gray^B · said^A · away^B
4 ABAB room^A · ago^B · tomb^A · slow^B
5 ABAB there^A · grew^B · fair^A · too^B
6 ABAB one^A · yet^B · done^A · forget^B
7 A-A- sure^A · woman · pure^A · human
8 -A-A her · his^A · arbiter · is^A
9 ABAB be^A · grim^B · see^A · him^B

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
Up from the street and the crowds that went,	9	·········
Morning and midnight, to and fro,	8	/˘·/····
Still was the room where his days he spent,	9	·········
And the stars were bleak, and the nights were slow.	10	··········
Year after year, with his dream shut fast,	9	·········
He suffered and strove till his eyes were dim,	10	·/˘·······
For the love that his brushes had earned at last, --	11	·····/˘····
And the whole world rang with the praise of him.	10	··········
But he cloaked his triumph, and searched, instead,	10	····/˘··˘/
Till his cheeks were sere and his hairs were gray.	10	··········
"There are women enough, God knows," he said. . . .	10	··/˘˘/····
"There are stars enough -- when the sun's away."	10	···˘/···˘/
Then he went back to the same still room	9	·········
That had held his dream in the long ago,	10	········˘/
When he buried his days in a nameless tomb,	11	··/˘····/˘·
And the stars were bleak, and the nights were slow.	10	··········
And a passionate humor seized him there --	10	··/˘˘/˘···
Seized him and held him until there grew	10	·˘········
Like life on his canvas, glowing and fair,	10	····/˘/˘··
A perilous face -- and an angel's, too.	10	·/˘˘···/˘·
Angel and maiden, and all in one, --	9	/˘·/˘····
All but the eyes. -- They were there, but yet	9	·········
They seemed somehow like a soul half done.	10	··˘/······
What was the matter? Did God forget? . . .	9	···/˘··˘/
But he wrought them at last with a skill so sure	11	···········
That her eyes were the eyes of a deathless woman, --	12	········/˘/˘
With a gleam of heaven to make them pure,	10	····/˘····
And a glimmer of hell to make them human.	11	··/˘·····/˘
God never forgets. -- And he worships her	10	·/˘˘/··/˘·
There in that same still room of his,	8	········
For his wife, and his constant arbiter	10	·····/˘/˘˘
Of the world that was and the world that is.	10	··········
And he wonders yet what her love could be	10	··/˘······
To punish him after that strife so grim;	10	·/˘·······
But the longer he lives with her eyes to see,	11	··/˘·······
The plainer it all comes back to him.	9	·/˘······

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.

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