Without Her
What of her glass without her? The blank greyThere where the pool is blind of the moon's face.Her dress without her? The tossed empty spaceOf cloud-rack whence the moon has passed away.Her paths without her? Day's appointed swayUsurped by desolate night. Her pillowed placeWithout her? Tears, ah me! for love's good grace,And cold forgetfulness of night or day.
What of the heart without her? Nay, poor heart,Of thee what word remains ere speech be still?A wayfarer by barren ways and chill,Steep ways and weary, without her thou art,Where the long cloud, the long wood's counterpart,Sheds doubled darkness up the labouring hill.
Words in this poem
- pillowed a.
- Provided with a pillow or pillows; having the head resting on, or as on, a pillow.
- wayfarer n.
- One who travels; a traveler; a passenger.
- labouring a.
- That labors; performing labor; esp., performing coarse, heavy work, not requiring skill also, set apart for labor; as, laboring days.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Without Her 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, Without Her, in The House of Life (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3692, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-house-of-life/without-her.html, id L20970.
Form and metre
Without Her is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
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 greyA · faceB · spaceB · awayA · swayA · placeB · graceB · dayA
- 2 ABBAAB heartA · stillB · chillB · artA · counterpartA · hillB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| What of her glass without her? The blank grey | 10 | ·········· |
| There where the pool is blind of the moon's face. | 10 | ·········· |
| Her dress without her? The tossed empty space | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Of cloud-rack whence the moon has passed away. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Her paths without her? Day's appointed sway | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Usurped by desolate night. Her pillowed place | 10 | ·/·/˘··/˘· |
| Without her? Tears, ah me! for love's good grace, | 10 | ·········· |
| And cold forgetfulness of night or day. | 10 | ··˘/˘˘···· |
| What of the heart without her? Nay, poor heart, | 10 | ·········· |
| Of thee what word remains ere speech be still? | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| A wayfarer by barren ways and chill, | 9 | ·/˘·/˘··· |
| Steep ways and weary, without her thou art, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Where the long cloud, the long wood's counterpart, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Sheds doubled darkness up the labouring hill. | 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.