Secret Parting
Because our talk was of the cloud-controlAnd moon-track of the journeying face of Fate,Her tremulous kisses faltered at love's gateAnd her eyes dreamed against a distant goal:But soon, remembering her how brief the wholeOf joy, which its own hours annihilate,Her set gaze gathered, thirstier than of late,And as she kissed, her mouth became her soul.
Thence in what ways we wandered, and how stroveTo build with fire-tried vows the piteous homeWhich memory haunts and whither sleep may roam,--They only know for whom the roof of LoveIs the still-seated secret of the grove,Nor spire may rise nor bell be heard therefrom.
Words in this poem
- annihilate v. t.
- To reduce to nothing or nonexistence; to destroy the existence of; to cause to cease to be. [L. annihilare; ad + nihilum, nihil, nothing, ne hilum (filum) not a thread, nothing at all. Cf. File, a row.]
- whither adv.
- To what place; -- used interrogatively; as, whither goest thou [OE. whider. AS. hwider; akin to E. where, who; cf. Goth. hvadre whither. See Who, and cf. Hither, Thither.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Secret Parting 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, Secret Parting, in The House of Life (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3692, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-house-of-life/secret-parting.html, id L20965.
Form and metre
Secret Parting is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%).
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 controlA · fateB · gateB · goalA · wholeA · annihilateB · lateB · soulA
- 2 ABB-A- stroveA · homeB · roamB · love · groveA · therefrom
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Because our talk was of the cloud-control | 10 | ··/·····˘/ |
| And moon-track of the journeying face of Fate, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Her tremulous kisses faltered at love's gate | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| And her eyes dreamed against a distant goal: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But soon, remembering her how brief the whole | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Of joy, which its own hours annihilate, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Her set gaze gathered, thirstier than of late, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And as she kissed, her mouth became her soul. | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Thence in what ways we wandered, and how strove | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To build with fire-tried vows the piteous home | 11 | ···/···/˘˘· |
| Which memory haunts and whither sleep may roam,-- | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| They only know for whom the roof of Love | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Is the still-seated secret of the grove, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Nor spire may rise nor bell be heard therefrom. | 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.