Supreme Surrender
O all the spirits of love that wander byAlong the love-sown fallowfield of sleepMy lady lies apparent; and the deepCalls to the deep; and no man sees but I.The bliss so long afar, at length so nigh,Rests there attained. Methinks proud Love must weepWhen Fate's control doth from his harvest reapThe sacred hour for which the years did sigh.
First touched, the hand now warm around my neckTaught memory long to mock desire: and lo!Across my breast the abandoned hair doth flow,Where one shorn tress long stirred the longing ache:And next the heart that trembled for its sakeLies the queen-heart in sovereign overthrow.
Words in this poem
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- methinks v.
- It seems to me; I think. See Me. [AS. þyncan to seem, me þynceedh, me þuhte, OE. me thinketh, me thoughte; akin to G. dünken to seem, denken to think, and E. think. See Me, and Think.]
- reap n.
- A bundle of grain; a handful of grain laid down by the reaper as it is cut. Wright. [Cf. AS. rip harvest. See Reap, v.]
- tress n.
- A braid, knot, or curl, of hair; a ringlet. [OE. tresse, OF. trece, F. tresse, LL. tricia, fr. Gr. tri`cha threefold, because a tress is usually formed by interlacing three pieces; akin to trei^s three. Se]
- ache n.
- A name given to several species of plants; as, smallage, wild celery, parsley. Holland. [F. ache, L. apium parsley.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Supreme Surrender 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, Supreme Surrender, in The House of Life (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3692, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-house-of-life/supreme-surrender.html, id L20927.
Form and metre
Supreme Surrender is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
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 byA · sleepB · deepB · iA · nighA · weepB · reapB · sighA
- 2 -AABBA neck · loA · flowA · acheB · sakeB · overthrowA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O all the spirits of love that wander by | 11 | ···/˘···/˘· |
| Along the love-sown fallowfield of sleep | 10 | ˘/········ |
| My lady lies apparent; and the deep | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Calls to the deep; and no man sees but I. | 10 | ·········· |
| The bliss so long afar, at length so nigh, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Rests there attained. Methinks proud Love must weep | 10 | ··˘/˘/···· |
| When Fate's control doth from his harvest reap | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| The sacred hour for which the years did sigh. | 10 | ·/˘/······ |
| First touched, the hand now warm around my neck | 10 | ·········· |
| Taught memory long to mock desire: and lo! | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| Across my breast the abandoned hair doth flow, | 11 | ˘/···˘/˘··· |
| Where one shorn tress long stirred the longing ache: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And next the heart that trembled for its sake | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Lies the queen-heart in sovereign overthrow. | 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.