Without Disguise
If I have erred in showing all my heart,And lost your favour by a lack of pride;If standing like a beggar at your sideWith naked feet, I have forgot the artOf those who bargain well in passion's mart,And win the thing they want by what they hide;Be mine the fault as mine the hope denied,Be mine the lover's and the loser's part.
The sin, if sin it was, I do repent,And take the penance on myself alone;Yet after I have borne the punishment,I shall not fear to stand before the throneOf Love with open heart, and make this plea:"At least I have not lied to her nor Thee!"
Words in this poem
- favour n.
- Kind regard; propitious aspect; countenance; friendly disposition; kindness; good will. [Written also favour.]
- mart v. t.
- To buy or sell in, or as in, a mart.
- repent a.
- Prostrate and rooting; -- said of stems. Gray. [L. repens, -entis, creeping, p. pr. of repere to creep.]
- 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,]
- lied n.
- A lay; a German song. It differs from the French chanson, and the Italian canzone, all three being national. [G.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Without Disguise 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, Without Disguise, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/without-disguise.html, id L22820.
Form and metre
Without Disguise is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 ABBAABBA heartA · prideB · sideB · artA · martA · hideB · deniedB · partA
- 2 ABABCC repentA · aloneB · punishmentA · throneB · pleaC · theeC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| If I have erred in showing all my heart, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And lost your favour by a lack of pride; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| If standing like a beggar at your side | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| With naked feet, I have forgot the art | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| Of those who bargain well in passion's mart, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And win the thing they want by what they hide; | 10 | ·········· |
| Be mine the fault as mine the hope denied, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Be mine the lover's and the loser's part. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The sin, if sin it was, I do repent, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And take the penance on myself alone; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘/ |
| Yet after I have borne the punishment, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| I shall not fear to stand before the throne | 10 | ·········· |
| Of Love with open heart, and make this plea: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| "At least I have not lied to her nor Thee!" | 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.