Do You Remember Once II
You loved me on that moonlit night long since.You were my queen and I the charming princeElected from a world of mortal men.You loved me once. . . . What pity was it, then,You loved not Love. . . . Deep in the emerald west,Like a returning caravel caressedBy breezes that load all the ambient airsWith clinging fragrance of the bales it bearsFrom harbors where the caravans come down,I see over the roof-tops of the townThe new moon back again, but shall not seeThe joy that once it had in store for me,Nor know again the voice upon the stair,The little studio in the candle-glare,And all that makes in word and touch and glanceThe bliss of the first nights of a romanceWhen will to love and be beloved casts outThe want to question or the will to doubt.You loved me once. . . . Under the western seasThe pale moon settles and the Pleiades.The firelight sinks; outside the night-winds moan --The hour advances, and I sleep alone.*
Words in this poem
- moonlit a.
- Illumined by the moon.
- caravel n.
- A name given to several kinds of vessels. [F. caravelle (cf. It. caravella, Sp. carabela), fr. Sp. caraba a kind of vessel, fr. L. carabus a kind of light boat, fr. Gr. [written also caravel and caravell]
- ambient a.
- Encompassing on all sides; circumfused; investing. [L. ambiens, p. pr. of ambire to go around; amb- + ire to go.]
- 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,]
- studio n.
- The working room of an artist. [It. studio, properly, study. See Study.]
- glare v. i.
- To shine with a bright, dazzling light. [OE. glaren, gloren; cf. AS. glær amber, LG. glaren to glow or burn like coals, D. gloren to glimmer; prob. akin to E. glass.]
- pleiades n.
- The seven daughters of Atlas and the nymph Pleione, fabled to have been made by Jupiter a constellation in the sky.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Do You Remember Once II is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #617; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Alan Seeger, Do You Remember Once II, in Poems (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #617, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seeger-poems/do-you-remember-once-ii.html, id L12964.
Form and metre
Do You Remember Once II is 22 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKK sinceA · princeA · menB · thenB · westC · caressedC · airsD · bearsD · downE · townE · seeF · meF · stairG · glareG · glanceH · romanceH · outI · doubtI · seasJ · pleiadesJ · moanK · aloneK
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 |
|---|---|---|
| You loved me on that moonlit night long since. | 10 | ·····/···· |
| You were my queen and I the charming prince | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Elected from a world of mortal men. | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| You loved me once. . . . What pity was it, then, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| You loved not Love. . . . Deep in the emerald west, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Like a returning caravel caressed | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| By breezes that load all the ambient airs | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| With clinging fragrance of the bales it bears | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| From harbors where the caravans come down, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| I see over the roof-tops of the town | 10 | ·········· |
| The new moon back again, but shall not see | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| The joy that once it had in store for me, | 10 | ·········· |
| Nor know again the voice upon the stair, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| The little studio in the candle-glare, | 11 | ·/˘/˘···/˘· |
| And all that makes in word and touch and glance | 10 | ·········· |
| The bliss of the first nights of a romance | 10 | ········˘/ |
| When will to love and be beloved casts out | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| The want to question or the will to doubt. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| You loved me once. . . . Under the western seas | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The pale moon settles and the Pleiades. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The firelight sinks; outside the night-winds moan -- | 11 | ·····//···· |
| The hour advances, and I sleep alone.* | 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.