Lost Days
The lost days of my life until to-day,What were they, could I see them on the streetLie as they fell? Would they be ears of wheatSown once for food but trodden into clay?Or golden coins squandered and still to pay?Or drops of blood dabbling the guilty feet?Or such spilt water as in dreams must cheatThe throats of men in Hell, who thirst alway?
I do not see them here; but after deathGod knows I know the faces I shall see,Each one a murdered self, with low last breath.'I am thyself,--what hast thou done to me?''And I--and I--thyself,' (lo! each one saith,)'And thou thyself to all eternity!'
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- saith
- 3d pers. sing. pres. of Say.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Lost Days 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, Lost Days, in The House of Life (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3692, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-house-of-life/lost-days.html, id L21002.
Form and metre
Lost Days 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 ABBAABB- dayA · streetB · wheatB · clayA · payA · feetB · cheatB · alway
- 2 ABABA- deathA · seeB · breathA · meB · saithA · eternity
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The lost days of my life until to-day, | 10 | ·········· |
| What were they, could I see them on the street | 10 | ·········· |
| Lie as they fell? Would they be ears of wheat | 10 | ·········· |
| Sown once for food but trodden into clay? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Or golden coins squandered and still to pay? | 10 | ·/˘·/˘···· |
| Or drops of blood dabbling the guilty feet? | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| Or such spilt water as in dreams must cheat | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The throats of men in Hell, who thirst alway? | 10 | ········/˘ |
| I do not see them here; but after death | 10 | ·········· |
| God knows I know the faces I shall see, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Each one a murdered self, with low last breath. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| 'I am thyself,--what hast thou done to me?' | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| 'And I--and I--thyself,' (lo! each one saith,) | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| 'And thou thyself to all eternity!' | 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.