Sweet Death
The sweetest blossoms die.And so it was that, going day by dayUnto the church to praise and pray,And crossing the green churchyard thoughtfully,I saw how on the graves the flowersShed their fresh leaves in showers,And how their perfume rose up to the skyBefore it passed away.
The youngest blossoms die.They die, and fall and nourish the rich earthFrom which they lately had their birth;Sweet life, but sweeter death that passeth byAnd is as though it had not been:--All colors turn to green:The bright hues vanish, and the odours fly,The grass hath lasting worth.
And youth and beauty die.So be it, O my God, Thou God of truth:Better than beauty and than youthAre Saints and Angels, a glad company;And Thou, O lord, our Rest and Ease,Are better far than these.Why should we shrink from our full harvest? whyPrefer to glean with Ruth?
Words in this poem
- churchyard n.
- The ground adjoining a church, in which the dead are buried; a cemetery.
- glean n.
- Cleaning; afterbirth. Holland.
- ruth n.
- Sorrow for the misery of another; pity; tenderness. [From Rue, v.: cf. Icel. hryggedh, hrygedh.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sweet Death 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, Sweet Death, in Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-goblin-market/sweet-death.html, id L04286.
Form and metre
Sweet Death is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter. 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% 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 ABB-CCAB dieA · dayB · prayB · thoughtfully · flowersC · showersC · skyA · awayB
- 2 ABBA--AB dieA · earthB · birthB · byA · been · green · flyA · worthB
- 3 ABB-CCAB dieA · truthB · youthB · company · easeC · theseC · whyA · ruthB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The sweetest blossoms die. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| And so it was that, going day by day | 9 | ·····/··· |
| Unto the church to praise and pray, | 8 | ········ |
| And crossing the green churchyard thoughtfully, | 9 | ·/˘··/·/˘ |
| I saw how on the graves the flowers | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Shed their fresh leaves in showers, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And how their perfume rose up to the sky | 10 | ···˘/····· |
| Before it passed away. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| The youngest blossoms die. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| They die, and fall and nourish the rich earth | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| From which they lately had their birth; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Sweet life, but sweeter death that passeth by | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And is as though it had not been:-- | 8 | ········ |
| All colors turn to green: | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The bright hues vanish, and the odours fly, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The grass hath lasting worth. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And youth and beauty die. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| So be it, O my God, Thou God of truth: | 10 | ·········· |
| Better than beauty and than youth | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Are Saints and Angels, a glad company; | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| And Thou, O lord, our Rest and Ease, | 8 | ····/··· |
| Are better far than these. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Why should we shrink from our full harvest? why | 10 | ·····/·/˘· |
| Prefer to glean with Ruth? | 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.