Equal Troth
Not by one measure mayst thou mete our love;For how should I be loved as I love thee?--I, graceless, joyless, lacking absolutelyAll gifts that with thy queenship best behove;--Thou, throned in every heart's elect alcove,And crowned with garlands culled from every tree,Which for no head but thine, by Love's decree,All beauties and all mysteries interwove.
But here thine eyes and lips yield soft rebuke:--'Then only,' (say'st thou), 'could I love thee less,When thou couldst doubt my love's equality.'Peace, sweet! If not to sum but worth we look,Thy heart's transcendence, not my heart's excess,Then more a thousandfold thou lov'st than I.
Words in this poem
- mete v. i.
- To dream; also impersonally; as, me mette, I dreamed. [AS. m.]
- graceless a.
- Wanting in grace or excellence; departed from, or deprived of, divine grace; hence, depraved; corrupt.
- joyless a.
- Not having joy; not causing joy; unenjoyable.
- queenship n.
- The state, rank, or dignity of a queen.
- behove v.
- , and derivatives. See Behoove, & c.
- alcove n.
- A recessed portion of a room, or a small room opening into a larger one; especially, a recess to contain a bed; a lateral recess in a library. [F. alcôve, Sp. or Pg. alcoba, from Ar. al-quobbah arch, vault, tent.]
- transcendence
- The quality or state of being transcendent; superior excellence; supereminence. [Cf. L. transcendentia, F. transcendance.]
- thousandfold a.
- Multiplied by a thousand.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Equal Troth is in the public domain. This text is taken from The House of Life, Project Gutenberg ebook #3692; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Equal Troth, in The House of Life (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3692, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-house-of-life/equal-troth.html, id L20952.
Form and metre
Equal Troth is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 AB-ACBBC loveA · theeB · absolutely · behoveA · alcoveC · treeB · decreeB · interwoveC
- 2 -A--A- rebuke · lessA · equality · look · excessA · i
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Not by one measure mayst thou mete our love; | 10 | ···/˘···/· |
| For how should I be loved as I love thee?-- | 10 | ·········· |
| I, graceless, joyless, lacking absolutely | 11 | ·/˘/˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| All gifts that with thy queenship best behove;-- | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Thou, throned in every heart's elect alcove, | 10 | ···/˘·˘//· |
| And crowned with garlands culled from every tree, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Which for no head but thine, by Love's decree, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| All beauties and all mysteries interwove. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| But here thine eyes and lips yield soft rebuke:-- | 10 | ········˘/ |
| 'Then only,' (say'st thou), 'could I love thee less, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| When thou couldst doubt my love's equality.' | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| Peace, sweet! If not to sum but worth we look, | 10 | ·········· |
| Thy heart's transcendence, not my heart's excess, | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| Then more a thousandfold thou lov'st than I. | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
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.