A Generation (1917)
There was a time that's goneAnd will not come again,We knew it was a pleasant time,How good we never dreamed.
When, for a whimsy's sake,We'd even play with pain,For everything awaited usAnd life immortal seemed.
It seemed unending thenTo forward-looking eyes,No thought of what postponement meantHung dark across our mirth;
We had years and strength enoughFor any enterprise,Our numerous companionshipWere heirs to all the earth.
But now all memoryIs one ironic truth,We look like strangers at the boysWe were so long ago;
For half of us are dead,And half have lost their youth,And our hearts are scarred by many griefs,That only age should know.
Words in this poem
- ironic a.
- Ironical. Sir T. Herbert.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Generation (1917) is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems - First Series, Project Gutenberg ebook #37860; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Collings Squire, A Generation (1917), in Poems: First Series (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #37860, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/squire-poems/a-generation-1917.html, id L23197.
Form and metre
A Generation (1917) is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is short measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See other poems in short measure.
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 ---A gone · again · time · dreamedA
- 2 ---A sake · pain · us · seemedA
- 3 -B-C then · eyesB · meant · mirthC
- 4 -B-C enough · enterpriseB · companionship · earthC
- 5 -D-E memory · truthD · boys · agoE
- 6 -D-E dead · youthD · griefs · knowE
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 short measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| There was a time that's gone | 6 | ······ |
| And will not come again, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| We knew it was a pleasant time, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| How good we never dreamed. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| When, for a whimsy's sake, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| We'd even play with pain, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| For everything awaited us | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| And life immortal seemed. | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| It seemed unending then | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| To forward-looking eyes, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| No thought of what postponement meant | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Hung dark across our mirth; | 6 | ··˘//· |
| We had years and strength enough | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| For any enterprise, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Our numerous companionship | 7 | //˘˘/˘· |
| Were heirs to all the earth. | 6 | ······ |
| But now all memory | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Is one ironic truth, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| We look like strangers at the boys | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| We were so long ago; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| For half of us are dead, | 6 | ······ |
| And half have lost their youth, | 6 | ······ |
| And our hearts are scarred by many griefs, | 8 | ·/····/· |
| That only age should know. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
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.