Heart's Haven
Sometimes she is a child within mine arms,Cowering beneath dark wings that love must chase,--With still tears showering and averted face,Inexplicably filled with faint alarms:And oft from mine own spirit's hurtling harmsI crave the refuge of her deep embrace,--Against all ills the fortified strong placeAnd sweet reserve of sovereign counter-charms.
And Love, our light at night and shade at noon,Lulls us to rest with songs, and turns awayAll shafts of shelterless tumultuous day.Like the moon's growth, his face gleams through his tune;And as soft waters warble to the moon,Our answering spirits chime one roundelay.
Words in this poem
- averted a.
- Turned away, esp. as an expression of feeling; also, offended; unpropitious.
- inexplicably adv.
- In an inexplicable manner.
- crave v. t.
- To ask with earnestness or importunity; to ask with submission or humility; to beg; to entreat; to beseech; to implore. [AS. crafian; akin to Icel. krefia, Sw. kr, Dan. kr.]
- shelterless a.
- Destitute of shelter or protection.
- warble v. t.
- To sing in a trilling, quavering, or vibratory manner; to modulate with turns or variations; to trill; as, certain birds are remarkable for warbling their songs. [OE. werbelen, OF. werbler; of Teutonic origin; cf. G. wirbeln to turn, to warble, D. wervelen, akin to E. whirl. See Whirl.]
- chime n.
- The harmonious sound of bells, or of musical instruments. [OE. chimbe, prop., cymbal, OF. cymbe, cymble, in a dialectic form, chymble, F. cymbale, L. cymbalum, fr. Gr. Cymbal.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Heart's Haven 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, Heart's Haven, in The House of Life (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3692, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-house-of-life/heart-s-haven.html, id L20942.
Form and metre
Heart's Haven is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
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 ABBAABBA armsA · chaseB · faceB · alarmsA · harmsA · embraceB · placeB · charmsA
- 2 ABBAAB noonA · awayB · dayB · tuneA · moonA · roundelayB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sometimes she is a child within mine arms, | 10 | ˘/········ |
| Cowering beneath dark wings that love must chase,-- | 10 | /˘········ |
| With still tears showering and averted face, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Inexplicably filled with faint alarms: | 10 | ·˘/˘˘···˘/ |
| And oft from mine own spirit's hurtling harms | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| I crave the refuge of her deep embrace,-- | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Against all ills the fortified strong place | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And sweet reserve of sovereign counter-charms. | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/˘· |
| And Love, our light at night and shade at noon, | 10 | ··/······· |
| Lulls us to rest with songs, and turns away | 10 | ········˘/ |
| All shafts of shelterless tumultuous day. | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| Like the moon's growth, his face gleams through his tune; | 10 | ·········· |
| And as soft waters warble to the moon, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Our answering spirits chime one roundelay. | 11 | //˘˘/˘··/˘˘ |
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.