Love from the North
I had a love in soft south land,Beloved through April far in May;He waited on my lightest breath,And never dared to say me nay.
He saddened if my cheer was sad,But gay he grew if I was gay;We never differed on a hair,My yes his yes, my nay his nay.
The wedding hour was come, the aislesWere flushed with sun and flowers that day;I pacing balanced in my thoughts:'It's quite too late to think of nay.'--
My bridegroom answered in his turn,Myself had almost answered 'yea:'When through the flashing nave I heardA struggle and resounding 'nay.'
Bridemaids and bridegroom shrank in fear,But I stood high who stood at bay:'And if I answer yea, fair Sir,What man art thou to bar with nay?'
He was a strong man from the north,Light-locked, with eyes of dangerous grey:'Put yea by for another timeIn which I will not say thee nay.'
He took me in his strong white arms,He bore me on his horse awayO'er crag, morass, and hairbreadth pass,But never asked me yea or nay.
He made me fast with book and bell,With links of love he makes me stay;Till now I've neither heart nor powerNor will nor wish to say him nay.
Words in this poem
- bridegroom n.
- A man newly married, or just about to be married. [OE. bridegome, brudgume, AS. br (akin to OS. br, D. bruidegom, bruigom, OHG. pr, MHG. briutegome, G. bräutigam); AS. br bride + guma man, akin to Goth. guma, Ic]
- crag n.
- The neck or throat [A form of craw: cf. D. kraag neck, collar, G. kragen. See Craw.]
- morass n.
- A tract of soft, wet ground; a marsh; a fen. Morass ore. (Min.) See Bog ore, under Bog. [OE. marras, mareis (perh. through D. moeras), fr. F. marais, prob. from L. mare sea, in LL., any body of water; but perh. influenced by some German word. See Me]
- hairbreadth a.
- The diameter or breadth of a hair; a very small distance; sometimes, definitely, the forty-eighth part of an inch.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Love from the North is in the public domain. This text is taken from Goblin Market, The Prince's Progress, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #16950; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Christina Rossetti, Love from the North, in Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-goblin-market/love-from-the-north.html, id L04242.
Form and metre
Love from the North is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 16% 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.
- 1 -A-A land · mayA · breath · nayA
- 2 -A-A sad · gayA · hair · nayA
- 3 -A-A aisles · dayA · thoughts · nayA
- 4 -A-A turn · yeaA · heard · nayA
- 5 -A-A fear · bayA · sir · nayA
- 6 -A-A north · greyA · time · nayA
- 7 -A-A arms · awayA · pass · nayA
- 8 -A-A bell · stayA · power · nayA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I had a love in soft south land, | 8 | ········ |
| Beloved through April far in May; | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| He waited on my lightest breath, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And never dared to say me nay. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| He saddened if my cheer was sad, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But gay he grew if I was gay; | 8 | ········ |
| We never differed on a hair, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| My yes his yes, my nay his nay. | 8 | ········ |
| The wedding hour was come, the aisles | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| Were flushed with sun and flowers that day; | 8 | ·····/·· |
| I pacing balanced in my thoughts: | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| 'It's quite too late to think of nay.'-- | 8 | ········ |
| My bridegroom answered in his turn, | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| Myself had almost answered 'yea:' | 8 | ·/·/·/˘· |
| When through the flashing nave I heard | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A struggle and resounding 'nay.' | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Bridemaids and bridegroom shrank in fear, | 9 | ····/···· |
| But I stood high who stood at bay: | 8 | ········ |
| 'And if I answer yea, fair Sir, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| What man art thou to bar with nay?' | 8 | ········ |
| He was a strong man from the north, | 8 | ········ |
| Light-locked, with eyes of dangerous grey: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| 'Put yea by for another time | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| In which I will not say thee nay.' | 8 | ········ |
| He took me in his strong white arms, | 8 | ········ |
| He bore me on his horse away | 8 | ······˘/ |
| O'er crag, morass, and hairbreadth pass, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| But never asked me yea or nay. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| He made me fast with book and bell, | 8 | ········ |
| With links of love he makes me stay; | 8 | ········ |
| Till now I've neither heart nor power | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Nor will nor wish to say him nay. | 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.