Hearts First Word. II
And all her soft dark hairBreathed for him like a prayer,And her white lost faceWas prisoned to some far place.Love was not denied—Love’s ends would hide,And flower and fruit and treeWere under its sea.Yea, its abundance kneltWhere the nerves feltThe springs of feeling flowAnd made pain grow!There seemed no root or sky,But a pent infinityWhere apparitions dimSculptured each whimIn flame and wandering mistOf kisses to be kist.
Words in this poem
- pent p. p.
- Penned or shut up; confined; -- often with up. [From Pen, v. t.]
- kist n.
- A chest; hence, a coffin. Jamieson. [See Chest.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Hearts First Word. II is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems by Isaac Rosenberg, Project Gutenberg ebook #66889; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Isaac Rosenberg, Hearts First Word. II, in Poems (1922), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66889, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rosenberg-poems/hearts-first-word-ii.html, id L02517.
Form and metre
Hearts First Word. II is 18 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 89% of the lines. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.6 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 56% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, 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 AABBCCDDEEFF--GGHH hairA · prayerA · faceB · placeB · deniedC · hideC · treeD · seaD · kneltE · feltE · flowF · growF · sky · infinity · dimG · whimG · mistH · kistH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| And all her soft dark hair | 6 | ······ |
| Breathed for him like a prayer, | 6 | ······ |
| And her white lost face | 5 | ····· |
| Was prisoned to some far place. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Love was not denied— | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Love’s ends would hide, | 4 | ···· |
| And flower and fruit and tree | 6 | ·/···· |
| Were under its sea. | 5 | ····· |
| Yea, its abundance knelt | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Where the nerves felt | 4 | ···· |
| The springs of feeling flow | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And made pain grow! | 4 | ···· |
| There seemed no root or sky, | 6 | ······ |
| But a pent infinity | 7 | ···˘/˘˘ |
| Where apparitions dim | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Sculptured each whim | 5 | /˘˘·· |
| In flame and wandering mist | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Of kisses to be kist. | 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.