Laurel · Christina Rossetti · Goblin Market and Other Poems

My Secret

iambic pentameter · 34 lines · from Goblin Market and Other Poems

I tell my secret? No indeed, not I:Perhaps some day, who knows?But not to-day; it froze, and blows, and snows,And you're too curious: fie!You want to hear it? well:Only, my secret's mine, and I won't tell.

Or, after all, perhaps there's none:Suppose there is no secret after all,But only just my fun.To-day's a nipping day, a biting day;In which one wants a shawl,A veil, a cloak, and other wraps:I cannot ope to every one who taps,And let the draughts come whistling through my hall;Come bounding and surrounding me,Come buffeting, astounding me,Nipping and clipping through my wraps and all.I wear my mask for warmth: who ever showsHis nose to Russian snowsTo be pecked at by every wind that blows?You would not peck? I thank you for good will,Believe, but leave that truth untested still.

Spring's an expansive time: yet I don't trustMarch with its peck of dust,Nor April with its rainbow-crowned brief showers,Nor even May, whose flowersOne frost may wither through the sunless hours.

Perhaps some languid summer day,When drowsy birds sing less and less,And golden fruit is ripening to excess,If there's not too much sun nor too much cloud,And the warm wind is neither still nor loud,Perhaps my secret I may say,Or you may guess.

Words in this poem

curious a.: Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [OF. curios, curius, F. curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See Cure.]
buffeting n.: A striking with the hand.
astounding a.: Of a nature to astound; astonishing; amazing; as, an astounding force, statement, or fact.
clipping n.: The act of embracing.
thank n.: A expression of gratitude; an acknowledgment expressive of a sense of favor or kindness received; obligation, claim, or desert, or gratitude; -- now generally used in the plural. [AS. Þanc, Þonc, thanks, favor, thought; akin to OS. thank favor, pleasure, thanks, D. & G. dank thanks, Icel. Þ\'94kk, Dan. tak, Sw. tack, Goth. Þagks thanks; -]
sunless a.: Destitute or deprived of the sun or its rays; shaded; shadowed.

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

About this text

My Secret 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, My Secret, in Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-goblin-market/my-secret.html, id L04256.

Form and metre

My Secret is 34 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.5 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% 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 -AA-BB i · knows^A · snows^A · fie · well^B · tell^B
2 ABA-BCCBDDBEEEFF none^A · all^B · fun^A · day · shawl^B · wraps^C · taps^C · hall^B · me^D · me^D · all^B · shows^E · snows^E · blows^E · will^F · still^F
3 AABBB trust^A · dust^A · showers^B · flowers^B · hours^B
4 ABBCCAB day^A · less^B · excess^B · cloud^C · loud^C · say^A · guess^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
I tell my secret? No indeed, not I:	10	···/˘·˘/··
Perhaps some day, who knows?	6	˘/····
But not to-day; it froze, and blows, and snows,	10	··········
And you're too curious: fie!	7	···/˘˘·
You want to hear it? well:	6	······
Only, my secret's mine, and I won't tell.	10	/˘·/˘·····
Or, after all, perhaps there's none:	8	····˘/··
Suppose there is no secret after all,	10	˘/···/˘···
But only just my fun.	6	·/˘···
To-day's a nipping day, a biting day;	10	···/˘··/˘·
In which one wants a shawl,	6	······
A veil, a cloak, and other wraps:	8	·····/˘·
I cannot ope to every one who taps,	10	·/˘··/˘···
And let the draughts come whistling through my hall;	10	·····/˘···
Come bounding and surrounding me,	8	·/˘·˘/˘·
Come buffeting, astounding me,	8	·/˘˘˘/˘·
Nipping and clipping through my wraps and all.	10	/˘·/˘·····
I wear my mask for warmth: who ever shows	9	·······/·
His nose to Russian snows	6	···/˘·
To be pecked at by every wind that blows?	10	·····/˘···
You would not peck? I thank you for good will,	10	··········
Believe, but leave that truth untested still.	10	˘/····˘/˘·
Spring's an expansive time: yet I don't trust	10	··˘/˘·····
March with its peck of dust,	6	······
Nor April with its rainbow-crowned brief showers,	10	·/˘··/···/
Nor even May, whose flowers	7	·/˘··/˘
One frost may wither through the sunless hours.	10	···/˘··/˘/
Perhaps some languid summer day,	8	˘/·/˘/˘·
When drowsy birds sing less and less,	8	·/˘·····
And golden fruit is ripening to excess,	10	·/˘··/˘·˘/
If there's not too much sun nor too much cloud,	10	··········
And the warm wind is neither still nor loud,	10	·····/˘···
Perhaps my secret I may say,	8	˘/·/˘···
Or you may guess.	4	····

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.

More by Christina Rossetti

Goblin Market and Other Poems