I Remembered
There never was a mood of mine,Gay or heart-broken, luminous or dull,But you could ease me of its feverAnd give it back to me more beautiful.
In many another soul I broke the bread,And drank the wine and played the happy guest,But I was lonely, I remembered you;The heart belongs to him who knew it best.
Words in this poem
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- drank n.
- Wild oats, or darnel grass. See Drake a plant. [Cf. 3d Drake.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
I Remembered is in the public domain. This text is taken from Flame and Shadow, Project Gutenberg ebook #591; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sara Teasdale, I Remembered, in Flame and Shadow (1920), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #591, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/teasdale-flame-shadow/i-remembered.html, id L20793.
Form and metre
I Remembered is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.2 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 20% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 -A-A mine · dullA · fever · beautifulA
- 2 -A-A bread · guestA · you · bestA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| There never was a mood of mine, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Gay or heart-broken, luminous or dull, | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| But you could ease me of its fever | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And give it back to me more beautiful. | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| In many another soul I broke the bread, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| And drank the wine and played the happy guest, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But I was lonely, I remembered you; | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| The heart belongs to him who knew it best. | 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.