Memory II
I have a room whereinto no one entersSave I myself alone:There sits a blessed memory on a throne,There my life centres.
While winter comes and goes--oh tedious comer!--And while its nip-wind blows;While bloom the bloodless lily and warm roseOf lavish summer.
If any should force entrance he might see thereOne buried yet not dead,Before whose face I no more bow my headOr bend my knee there;
But often in my worn life's autumn weatherI watch there with clear eyes,And think how it will be in ParadiseWhen we're together.
Words in this poem
- whereinto adv.
- Into which; -- used relatively.
- comer n.
- One who comes, or who has come; one who has arrived, and is present. All comers, all who come, or offer, to take part in a matter, especially in a contest or controversy.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Memory II 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, Memory II, in Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-goblin-market/memory-ii.html, id L04320.
Form and metre
Memory II is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABBA, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter. 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.9 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 38% 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 ABBA entersA · aloneB · throneB · centresA
- 2 ABBA comerA · blowsB · roseB · summerA
- 3 ABBA thereA · deadB · headB · thereA
- 4 A--A weatherA · eyes · paradise · togetherA
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 have a room whereinto no one enters | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Save I myself alone: | 6 | ···/˘/ |
| There sits a blessed memory on a throne, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| There my life centres. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| While winter comes and goes--oh tedious comer!-- | 11 | ·/˘····/˘/˘ |
| And while its nip-wind blows; | 6 | ······ |
| While bloom the bloodless lily and warm rose | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Of lavish summer. | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| If any should force entrance he might see there | 11 | ·/˘··/˘···· |
| One buried yet not dead, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Before whose face I no more bow my head | 10 | ·········· |
| Or bend my knee there; | 5 | ····· |
| But often in my worn life's autumn weather | 11 | ·/˘····/˘/˘ |
| I watch there with clear eyes, | 6 | ······ |
| And think how it will be in Paradise | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| When we're together. | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
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.