A Bouquet
Take first a Cowslip, then an Asphodel,A bridal Rose, some snowy Orange flowers;A Lily next, and by its spotless bellPlace the bright Iris, darling of the showers;Set gold Nasturtiums, Elder blooms between,And Heart's-ease to the Orchis marry sweetly;Then with red Pinks, and slips of Evergreen,You will possess--all folded up discreetly--In one bouquet, that none but you may know,The name I love beyond all names below.
I stooped from star-bright regions, whereThou canst not enter even in prayer;And thought to light thy heart and hearthWith all the poesy of earth.
Oh, foolish hope! those mystic gleamsTo thee were unsubstantial dreams;The paltry world had made thee blind,And shut thy heart and dulled thy mind.
I was a vassal at thy feet,And cringed more meanly than was meet,And since I dared not to be free,Was scouted as a slave should be.
I gave thee all--my truth, my trust--I bowed my spirit in the dust,I put a crown upon thy brow,And am its proper victim now.
Words in this poem
- cowslip n.
- A common flower in England (Primula veris) having yellow blossoms and appearing in early spring. It is often cultivated in the United States. [AS. c, c, prob. orig., cow's droppings. Cf. Slop, n.]
- asphodel n.
- A general name for a plant of the genus Asphodelus. The asphodels are hardy perennial plants, several species of which are cultivated for the beauty of their flowers. [L. asphodelus, Gr. Daffodil.]
- snowy a.
- White like snow.
- poesy n.
- The art of composing poems; poetical skill or faculty; as, the heavenly gift of poesy. [F. poésie (cf. It. poesia), L. poesis, from Gr. Posy.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Bouquet is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Henry Timrod; with Memoir, Project Gutenberg ebook #845; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Timrod, A Bouquet, in Poems (1860–1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #845, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/timrod-poems/a-bouquet.html, id L10522.
Form and metre
A Bouquet is 26 lines in 5 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 4 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 94% 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. 15% 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 -A-ABCBCDD asphodel · flowersA · bell · showersA · betweenB · sweetlyC · evergreenB · discreetlyC · knowD · belowD
- 2 AABB whereA · prayerA · hearthB · earthB
- 3 AABB gleamsA · dreamsA · blindB · mindB
- 4 AABB feetA · meetA · freeB · beB
- 5 AABB trustA · dustA · browB · nowB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Take first a Cowslip, then an Asphodel, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| A bridal Rose, some snowy Orange flowers; | 11 | ·/˘··/˘/˘/˘ |
| A Lily next, and by its spotless bell | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Place the bright Iris, darling of the showers; | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Set gold Nasturtiums, Elder blooms between, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And Heart's-ease to the Orchis marry sweetly; | 11 | ·····/˘/˘/˘ |
| Then with red Pinks, and slips of Evergreen, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| You will possess--all folded up discreetly-- | 11 | ··˘/·/˘·˘/˘ |
| In one bouquet, that none but you may know, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| The name I love beyond all names below. | 10 | ·········· |
| I stooped from star-bright regions, where | 9 | ··˘···/˘· |
| Thou canst not enter even in prayer; | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
| And thought to light thy heart and hearth | 8 | ········ |
| With all the poesy of earth. | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Oh, foolish hope! those mystic gleams | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To thee were unsubstantial dreams; | 8 | ········ |
| The paltry world had made thee blind, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And shut thy heart and dulled thy mind. | 9 | ······˘·· |
| I was a vassal at thy feet, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And cringed more meanly than was meet, | 9 | ··˘·/˘··· |
| And since I dared not to be free, | 9 | ····˘···· |
| Was scouted as a slave should be. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I gave thee all--my truth, my trust-- | 8 | ········ |
| I bowed my spirit in the dust, | 9 | ··˘·/˘··· |
| I put a crown upon thy brow, | 8 | ········ |
| And am its proper victim now. | 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.