Who Shall Deliver Me?
God strengthen me to bear myself;That heaviest weight of all to bear,Inalienable weight of care.
All others are outside myself,I lock my door and bar them outThe turmoil, tedium, gad-about.
I lock my door upon myself,And bar them out; but who shall wallSelf from myself, most loathed of all?
If I could once lay down myself,And start self-purged upon the raceThat all must run! Death runs apace.
If I could set aside myself,And start with lightened heart uponThe road by all men overgone!
God harden me against myself,This coward with pathetic voiceWho craves for ease, and rest, and joys:
Myself, arch-traitor to myself;My hollowest friend, my deadliest foe,My clog whatever road I go.
Yet One there is can curb myself,Can roll the strangling load from me,Break off the yoke and set me free.
If he would come to-day, to-day, to-day,O, what a day to-day would be!But now he's away, miles and miles awayFrom me across the sea.
O little bird, flying, flying, flyingTo your nest in the warm west,Tell him as you pass that I am dying,As you pass home to your nest.
I have a sister, I have a brother,A faithful hound, a tame white dove;But I had another, once I had another,And I miss him, my love, my love!
In this weary world it is so cold, so cold,While I sit here all alone;I would not like to wait and to grow old,But just to be dead and gone.
Make me fair when I lie dead on my bed,Fair where I am lying:Perhaps he may come and look upon me dead--He for whom I am dying.
Dig my grave for two, with a stone to show it,And on the stone write my name;If he never comes, I shall never know it,But sleep on all the same.
Words in this poem
- turmoil v. t.
- To harass with commotion; to disquiet; to worry.
- tedium n.
- Irksomeness; wearisomeness; tediousness. [Written also tædium.] [L. taedium, fr. taedet it disgusts, it wearies one.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- apace adv.
- With a quick pace; quick; fast; speedily. [Pref. a- + pace. OE. a pas at a walk, in which a is the article. See Pace.]
- pathetic a.
- Expressing or showing anger; passionate. [L. patheticus, Gr. pathétique. See Pathos.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Who Shall Deliver Me? 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, Who Shall Deliver Me?, in Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-goblin-market/who-shall-deliver-me.html, id L04368.
Form and metre
Who Shall Deliver Me? is 48 lines in 14 stanzas. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABAB, in 5 of the 14 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.3 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 15% 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 -AA myself · bearA · careA
- 2 -AA myself · outA · aboutA
- 3 -AA myself · wallA · allA
- 4 -AA myself · raceA · apaceA
- 7 -AA myself · foeA · goA
- 8 -AA myself · meA · freeA
- 9 ABAB dayA · beB · awayA · seaB
- 10 ABAB flyingA · westB · dyingA · nestB
- 11 ABAB brotherA · doveB · anotherA · loveB
- 12 A-A- coldA · alone · oldA · gone
- 13 ABAB bedA · lyingB · deadA · dyingB
- 14 ABAB itA · nameB · itA · sameB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| God strengthen me to bear myself; | 8 | ·/˘····/ |
| That heaviest weight of all to bear, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Inalienable weight of care. | 8 | ˘/˘˘˘··· |
| All others are outside myself, | 8 | ·/˘·//·/ |
| I lock my door and bar them out | 8 | ········ |
| The turmoil, tedium, gad-about. | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| I lock my door upon myself, | 8 | ·······/ |
| And bar them out; but who shall wall | 8 | ········ |
| Self from myself, most loathed of all? | 8 | ···/···· |
| If I could once lay down myself, | 8 | ·······/ |
| And start self-purged upon the race | 8 | ········ |
| That all must run! Death runs apace. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| If I could set aside myself, | 8 | ····˘/·/ |
| And start with lightened heart upon | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The road by all men overgone! | 8 | ········ |
| God harden me against myself, | 8 | ·/˘····/ |
| This coward with pathetic voice | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Who craves for ease, and rest, and joys: | 8 | ········ |
| Myself, arch-traitor to myself; | 8 | ·/·/˘··/ |
| My hollowest friend, my deadliest foe, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| My clog whatever road I go. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Yet One there is can curb myself, | 8 | ·······/ |
| Can roll the strangling load from me, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Break off the yoke and set me free. | 8 | ········ |
| If he would come to-day, to-day, to-day, | 10 | ·········· |
| O, what a day to-day would be! | 8 | ········ |
| But now he's away, miles and miles away | 10 | ···˘/···˘/ |
| From me across the sea. | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| O little bird, flying, flying, flying | 10 | ·/˘·/˘/˘/˘ |
| To your nest in the warm west, | 7 | ······· |
| Tell him as you pass that I am dying, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| As you pass home to your nest. | 7 | ······· |
| I have a sister, I have a brother, | 10 | ···/˘···/˘ |
| A faithful hound, a tame white dove; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But I had another, once I had another, | 12 | ···˘/˘···˘/˘ |
| And I miss him, my love, my love! | 8 | ········ |
| In this weary world it is so cold, so cold, | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| While I sit here all alone; | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| I would not like to wait and to grow old, | 10 | ·········· |
| But just to be dead and gone. | 7 | ······· |
| Make me fair when I lie dead on my bed, | 10 | ·········· |
| Fair where I am lying: | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Perhaps he may come and look upon me dead-- | 11 | ˘/········· |
| He for whom I am dying. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Dig my grave for two, with a stone to show it, | 11 | ··········· |
| And on the stone write my name; | 7 | ······· |
| If he never comes, I shall never know it, | 9 | ··/···/·· |
| But sleep on all the same. | 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.