Farewell to the Glen
Sweet stream-fed glen, why say 'farewell' to theeWho far'st so well and find'st for ever smoothThe brow of Time where man may read no ruth?Nay, do thou rather say 'farewell' to me,Who now fare forth in bitterer fantasyThan erst was mine where other shade might sootheBy other streams, what while in fragrant youthThe bliss of being sad made melancholy.
And yet, farewell! For better shalt thou fareWhen children bathe sweet faces in thy flowAnd happy lovers blend sweet shadows thereIn hours to come, than when an hour agoThine echoes had but one man's sighs to bearAnd thy trees whispered what he feared to know.
Words in this poem
- ruth n.
- Sorrow for the misery of another; pity; tenderness. [From Rue, v.: cf. Icel. hryggedh, hrygedh.]
- fantasy n.
- Fancy; imagination; especially, a whimsical or fanciful conception; a vagary of the imagination; whim; caprice; humor. [See Fancy.]
- soothe v. t.
- To assent to as true. Testament of Love. [Originally, to assent to as true; OE. so to verify, AS. ges to prove the truth of, to bear witness. See Sooth, a.]
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Farewell to the Glen 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, Farewell to the Glen, in The House of Life (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3692, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-house-of-life/farewell-to-the-glen.html, id L21000.
Form and metre
Farewell to the Glen is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 ABCA-BC- theeA · smoothB · ruthC · meA · fantasy · sootheB · youthC · melancholy
- 2 ABABAB fareA · flowB · thereA · agoB · bearA · knowB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sweet stream-fed glen, why say 'farewell' to thee | 10 | ·······/·· |
| Who far'st so well and find'st for ever smooth | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The brow of Time where man may read no ruth? | 10 | ·········· |
| Nay, do thou rather say 'farewell' to me, | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| Who now fare forth in bitterer fantasy | 11 | ········/˘˘ |
| Than erst was mine where other shade might soothe | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| By other streams, what while in fragrant youth | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| The bliss of being sad made melancholy. | 11 | ···/˘··/˘·˘ |
| And yet, farewell! For better shalt thou fare | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| When children bathe sweet faces in thy flow | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And happy lovers blend sweet shadows there | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/·· |
| In hours to come, than when an hour ago | 10 | ·/·····/˘/ |
| Thine echoes had but one man's sighs to bear | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And thy trees whispered what he feared to know. | 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.