The Woman and the Angel
An angel was tired of heaven, as he lounged in the golden street;His halo was tilted sideways, and his harp lay mute at his feet;So the Master stooped in His pity, and gave him a pass to go,For the space of a moon, to the earth-world, to mix with the men below.
He doffed his celestial garments, scarce waiting to lay them straight;He bade goodbye to Peter, who stood by the golden gate;The sexless singers of heaven chanted a fond farewell,And the imps looked up as they pattered on the red-hot flags of hell.
Never was seen such an angel: eyes of a heavenly blue,Features that shamed Apollo, hair of a golden hue;The women simply adored him, his lips were like Cupid's bow;But he never ventured to use them--and so they voted him slow.
Till at last there came One Woman, a marvel of loveliness,And she whispered to him: "Do you love me?" And he answered thatwoman, "Yes."And she said: "Put your arms around me, and kiss me, and hold me--so--"But fiercely he drew back, saying: "This thing is wrong, and I know."
Then sweetly she mocked his scruples, and softly she him beguiled:"You, who are verily man among men, speak with the tongue of a child.We have outlived the old standards; we have burst, like anover-tight thong,The ancient, outworn, puritanic traditions of Right and Wrong."
Then the Master feared for His angel, and called him again to His side,For oh, the woman was wondrous, and oh, the angel was tried.And deep in his hell sang the Devil, and this was the strain of hissong:"The ancient, outworn, puritanic traditions of Right and Wrong."
Words in this poem
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
- puritanic a.
- Of or pertaining to the Puritans, or to their doctrines and practice.
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Woman and the Angel is in the public domain. This text is taken from Songs of a Sourdough, Project Gutenberg ebook #25546; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert W. Service, The Woman and the Angel, in Songs of a Sourdough (1907), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #25546, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/service-sourdough/the-woman-and-the-angel.html, id L08126.
Form and metre
The Woman and the Angel is 27 lines in 6 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 3 of its 6 stanzas. 75% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 13.7 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 11% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 AABB streetA · feetA · goB · belowB
- 2 AABB straightA · gateA · farewellB · hellB
- 3 AABB blueA · hueA · bowB · slowB
- 4 ---AA loveliness · that · yes · soA · knowA
- 5 AA-BB beguiledA · childA · an · thongB · wrongB
- 6 AA-BB sideA · triedA · his · songB · wrongB
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| An angel was tired of heaven, as he lounged in the golden street; | 15 | ·/˘·/·/·····/˘· |
| His halo was tilted sideways, and his harp lay mute at his feet; | 16 | ·/˘·/˘/········· |
| So the Master stooped in His pity, and gave him a pass to go, | 16 | ··/˘···/˘······· |
| For the space of a moon, to the earth-world, to mix with the men below. | 17 | ················· |
| He doffed his celestial garments, scarce waiting to lay them straight; | 15 | ···˘/˘/˘·/˘···· |
| He bade goodbye to Peter, who stood by the golden gate; | 14 | ···/·/˘····/˘· |
| The sexless singers of heaven chanted a fond farewell, | 13 | ·/˘/˘·//˘···/ |
| And the imps looked up as they pattered on the red-hot flags of hell. | 16 | ·······/˘······· |
| Never was seen such an angel: eyes of a heavenly blue, | 13 | /····/˘···/˘· |
| Features that shamed Apollo, hair of a golden hue; | 13 | /˘··˘/˘···/˘· |
| The women simply adored him, his lips were like Cupid's bow; | 15 | ·/˘/˘˘/·····/˘· |
| But he never ventured to use them--and so they voted him slow. | 15 | ··//˘······/˘·· |
| Till at last there came One Woman, a marvel of loveliness, | 15 | ······/˘·/˘·/˘˘ |
| And she whispered to him: "Do you love me?" And he answered that | 15 | ··/˘········/˘· |
| woman, "Yes." | 3 | /˘· |
| And she said: "Put your arms around me, and kiss me, and hold me--so--" | 16 | ················ |
| But fiercely he drew back, saying: "This thing is wrong, and I know." | 15 | ·/˘···/˘······· |
| Then sweetly she mocked his scruples, and softly she him beguiled: | 15 | ·/˘···/˘·/˘··˘/ |
| "You, who are verily man among men, speak with the tongue of a child. | 17 | ···/˘˘··········· |
| We have outlived the old standards; we have burst, like an | 13 | ···/··/˘····· |
| over-tight thong, | 4 | ···· |
| The ancient, outworn, puritanic traditions of Right and Wrong." | 16 | ·/˘······˘/˘···· |
| Then the Master feared for His angel, and called him again to His side, | 17 | ··/˘···/˘···˘/··· |
| For oh, the woman was wondrous, and oh, the angel was tried. | 15 | ···/˘·/˘···/˘·· |
| And deep in his hell sang the Devil, and this was the strain of his | 15 | ·······/······· |
| song: | 1 | · |
| "The ancient, outworn, puritanic traditions of Right and Wrong." | 16 | ·/˘······˘/˘···· |
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.