The Lovers' Walk
Sweet twining hedgeflowers wind-stirred in no wiseOn this June day; and hand that clings in hand:--Still glades; and meeting faces scarcely fann'd:--An osier-odoured stream that draws the skiesDeep to its heart; and mirrored eyes in eyes:--Fresh hourly wonder o'er the Summer landOf light and cloud; and two souls softly spann'dWith one o'erarching heaven of smiles and sighs:--
Even such their path, whose bodies lean untoEach other's visible sweetness amorously,--Whose passionate hearts lean by Love's high decreeTogether on his heart for ever true,As the cloud-foaming firmamental blueRests on the blue line of a foamless sea.
Words in this poem
- hourly a.
- Happening or done every hour; occurring hour by hour; frequent; often repeated; renewed hour by hour; continual.
- amorously adv.
- In an amorous manner; fondly.
- firmamental a.
- Pertaining to the firmament; celestial; being of the upper regions.
- foamless a.
- Having no foam.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Lovers' Walk 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, The Lovers' Walk, in The House of Life (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3692, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-house-of-life/the-lovers-walk.html, id L20932.
Form and metre
The Lovers' Walk is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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 wiseA · handB · fann'dB · skiesA · eyesA · landB · spann'dB · sighsA
- 2 --ABBA unto · amorously · decreeA · trueB · blueB · seaA
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 twining hedgeflowers wind-stirred in no wise | 12 | ·/˘········· |
| On this June day; and hand that clings in hand:-- | 10 | ·········· |
| Still glades; and meeting faces scarcely fann'd:-- | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| An osier-odoured stream that draws the skies | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Deep to its heart; and mirrored eyes in eyes:-- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Fresh hourly wonder o'er the Summer land | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Of light and cloud; and two souls softly spann'd | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| With one o'erarching heaven of smiles and sighs:-- | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Even such their path, whose bodies lean unto | 10 | /····/˘··· |
| Each other's visible sweetness amorously,-- | 11 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘˘˘ |
| Whose passionate hearts lean by Love's high decree | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Together on his heart for ever true, | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| As the cloud-foaming firmamental blue | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Rests on the blue line of a foamless sea. | 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.