"Rappelle-Toi"
Remember, when the timid lightThrough the enchanted hall of dawn is gleaming;Remember, when the pensive nightBeneath her silver-sprinkled veil walks dreaming;When pleasure calls thee and thy heart beats high,When tender joys through evening shades draw nigh,Hark, from the woodland deepsA gentle whisper creeps,Remember!
Remember, when the hand of fateMy life from thine forevermore has parted;When sorrow, exile, and the weightOf lonely years have made me heavy-hearted;Think of my loyal love, my last adieu;Absence and time are naught, if we are true;Long as my heart shall beat,To thine it will repeat,Remember!
Remember, when the cool, dark tombReceives my heart into its quiet keeping,And some sweet flower begins to bloomAbove the grassy mound where I am sleeping;Ah then, my face thou nevermore shalt see,But still my soul will linger close to thee,And in the holy place of night,The litany of love recite,--Remember!
Freely rendered from the French of Alfred de Musset.
Words in this poem
- enchanted a.
- Under the power of enchantment; possessed or exercised by enchanters; as, an enchanted castle.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- nevermore adv.
- Never again; at no time hereafter. Testament of Love. Tyndale.
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
"Rappelle-Toi" is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Henry Van Dyke, Project Gutenberg ebook #16229; 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 Van Dyke, "Rappelle-Toi", in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/rappelle-toi.html, id L22822.
Form and metre
"Rappelle-Toi" is 28 lines in 4 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
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 ABABCC--- lightA · gleamingB · nightA · dreamingB · highC · nighC · deeps · creeps · remember
- 2 ABABCCDD- fateA · partedB · weightA · heartedB · adieuC · trueC · beatD · repeatD · remember
- 3 ABABCCDD- tombA · keepingB · bloomA · sleepingB · seeC · theeC · nightD · reciteD · remember
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Remember, when the timid light | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| Through the enchanted hall of dawn is gleaming; | 11 | ··˘/˘····/˘ |
| Remember, when the pensive night | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| Beneath her silver-sprinkled veil walks dreaming; | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| When pleasure calls thee and thy heart beats high, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| When tender joys through evening shades draw nigh, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Hark, from the woodland deeps | 6 | ···/·· |
| A gentle whisper creeps, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Remember! | 3 | ˘/˘ |
| Remember, when the hand of fate | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| My life from thine forevermore has parted; | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| When sorrow, exile, and the weight | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| Of lonely years have made me heavy-hearted; | 11 | ·/˘····/˘/˘ |
| Think of my loyal love, my last adieu; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Absence and time are naught, if we are true; | 10 | /˘········ |
| Long as my heart shall beat, | 6 | ······ |
| To thine it will repeat, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Remember! | 3 | ˘/˘ |
| Remember, when the cool, dark tomb | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| Receives my heart into its quiet keeping, | 11 | ˘/·····/˘/˘ |
| And some sweet flower begins to bloom | 9 | ···/˘˘/·· |
| Above the grassy mound where I am sleeping; | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Ah then, my face thou nevermore shalt see, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But still my soul will linger close to thee, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And in the holy place of night, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The litany of love recite,-- | 8 | ·/˘˘··˘/ |
| Remember! | 3 | ˘/˘ |
| Freely rendered from the French of Alfred de Musset. | 13 | /˘/˘····/˘··· |
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.