When We Two Walked
WHEN we two walked in LentWe imagined that happinessWas something differentAnd this was something less.
But happy were we to hideOur happiness, not as they wereWho acted in their prideJuno and Jupiter:
For the Gods in their jealousyMurdered that wife and man,And we that were wise live freeTo recall our happiness then.
THE flowers left thick at nightfall in the woodThis Eastertide call into mind the men,Now far from home, who, with their sweethearts, shouldHave gathered them and will do never again.
Words in this poem
- nightfall n.
- The close of the day.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
When We Two Walked is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #22423; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edward Thomas, When We Two Walked, in Poems (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22423, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/thomas-edward-poems/when-we-two-walked.html, id L08155.
Form and metre
When We Two Walked is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 77%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 62% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 ABAB lentA · happinessB · differentA · lessB
- 2 A-A- hideA · were · prideA · jupiter
- 4 ABAB woodA · menB · shouldA · againB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| WHEN we two walked in Lent | 6 | ······ |
| We imagined that happiness | 9 | ·˘/˘˘·/˘˘ |
| Was something different | 6 | ·/˘/˘˘ |
| And this was something less. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But happy were we to hide | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Our happiness, not as they were | 9 | /˘/˘˘···· |
| Who acted in their pride | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Juno and Jupiter: | 6 | /˘·/˘˘ |
| For the Gods in their jealousy | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Murdered that wife and man, | 6 | /˘···· |
| And we that were wise live free | 7 | ······· |
| To recall our happiness then. | 9 | ·/·/˘/˘˘· |
| THE flowers left thick at nightfall in the wood | 10 | ·/···/···· |
| This Eastertide call into mind the men, | 10 | ·········· |
| Now far from home, who, with their sweethearts, should | 10 | ·······/·· |
| Have gathered them and will do never again. | 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.