O, in a World of Men and Women
O, in a world of men and women,Where all things seemed so strange to me,And speech the common world called humanFor me was a vain mimicry,
I thought—O, am I one in sorrow?Or is the world more quick to hideTheir pain with raiment that they borrowFrom pleasure in the house of pride?
O joy of mine, O longed-for stranger,How I would greet you if you came:In the world’s joys I’ve been a ranger,In my world sorrow is their name.
Words in this poem
- borrow v. t.
- To receive from another as a loan, with the implied or expressed intention of returning the identical article or its equivalent in kind; -- the opposite of lend. [OE. borwen, AS. borgian, fr. borg, borh, pledge; akin to D. borg, G. borg; prob. fr. root of AS. beorgan to protect. Borough.]
- ranger n.
- One who ranges; a rover; sometimes, one who ranges for plunder; a roving robber.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
O, in a World of Men and Women 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, O, in a World of Men and Women, in Poems (1922), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66889, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rosenberg-poems/o-in-a-world-of-men-and-women.html, id L02521.
Form and metre
O, in a World of Men and Women is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.4 syllables. 6 lines end 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 tetrameter.
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.
- 2 -A-A sorrow · hideA · borrow · prideA
- 3 ABAB strangerA · cameB · rangerA · nameB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| O, in a world of men and women, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Where all things seemed so strange to me, | 8 | ········ |
| And speech the common world called human | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| For me was a vain mimicry, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| I thought—O, am I one in sorrow? | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Or is the world more quick to hide | 8 | ········ |
| Their pain with raiment that they borrow | 9 | ···/˘··/· |
| From pleasure in the house of pride? | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| O joy of mine, O longed-for stranger, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| How I would greet you if you came: | 8 | ········ |
| In the world’s joys I’ve been a ranger, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| In my world sorrow is their name. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
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.