I Have a Rendezvous with Death
I have a rendezvous with DeathAt some disputed barricade,When Spring comes back with rustling shadeAnd apple-blossoms fill the air --I have a rendezvous with DeathWhen Spring brings back blue days and fair.
It may be he shall take my handAnd lead me into his dark landAnd close my eyes and quench my breath --It may be I shall pass him still.I have a rendezvous with DeathOn some scarred slope of battered hill,When Spring comes round again this yearAnd the first meadow-flowers appear.
God knows 'twere better to be deepPillowed in silk and scented down,Where Love throbs out in blissful sleep,Pulse nigh to pulse, and breath to breath,Where hushed awakenings are dear . . .But I've a rendezvous with DeathAt midnight in some flaming town,When Spring trips north again this year,And I to my pledged word am true,I shall not fail that rendezvous.
Words in this poem
- rendezvous n.
- A place appointed for a meeting, or at which persons customarily meet.
- 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,]
- pillowed a.
- Provided with a pillow or pillows; having the head resting on, or as on, a pillow.
- blissful a.
- Full of, characterized by, or causing, joy and felicity; happy in the highest degree.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
I Have a Rendezvous with Death 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, I Have a Rendezvous with Death, in Poems (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #617, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seeger-poems/i-have-a-rendezvous-with-death.html, id L12977.
Form and metre
I Have a Rendezvous with Death is 24 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 38% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 ABBCAC deathA · barricadeB · shadeB · airC · deathA · fairC
- 2 AABCBCDD handA · landA · breathB · stillC · deathB · hillC · yearD · appearD
- 3 ABACDCBDEE deepA · downB · sleepA · breathC · dearD · deathC · townB · yearD · trueE · rendezvousE
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I have a rendezvous with Death | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| At some disputed barricade, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| When Spring comes back with rustling shade | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And apple-blossoms fill the air -- | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| I have a rendezvous with Death | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| When Spring brings back blue days and fair. | 8 | ········ |
| It may be he shall take my hand | 8 | ········ |
| And lead me into his dark land | 8 | ········ |
| And close my eyes and quench my breath -- | 8 | ········ |
| It may be I shall pass him still. | 8 | ········ |
| I have a rendezvous with Death | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| On some scarred slope of battered hill, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When Spring comes round again this year | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And the first meadow-flowers appear. | 8 | ···/·/˘/ |
| God knows 'twere better to be deep | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Pillowed in silk and scented down, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Where Love throbs out in blissful sleep, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Pulse nigh to pulse, and breath to breath, | 8 | ········ |
| Where hushed awakenings are dear . . . | 8 | ··˘/˘˘·· |
| But I've a rendezvous with Death | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| At midnight in some flaming town, | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| When Spring trips north again this year, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And I to my pledged word am true, | 8 | ········ |
| I shall not fail that rendezvous. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
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.