Song
Lightly we met in the morn,Lightly we parted at eve.There was never a thought of the thornThe rose of a day might leave.
Fate's finger we did not perceive,So lightly we met in the morn!So lightly we parted at eveWe knew not that Love was born.
I rose on the morrow forlorn,To pine and remember and grieve.Too lightly we met in the morn!Too lightly we parted at eve!
Words in this poem
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Song is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of William Watson, Project Gutenberg ebook #13179; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Watson, Song, in The Poems of William Watson (1892–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13179, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/watson-poems/song.html, id L11348.
Form and metre
Song is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is anapaestic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 97%). 83% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 17% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in anapaestic 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 mornA · eveB · thornA · leaveB
- 2 ABAB perceiveA · mornB · eveA · bornB
- 3 ABAB forlornA · grieveB · mornA · eveB
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 anapaestic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Lightly we met in the morn, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Lightly we parted at eve. | 7 | /˘·/˘·· |
| There was never a thought of the thorn | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| The rose of a day might leave. | 7 | ······· |
| Fate's finger we did not perceive, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| So lightly we met in the morn! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| So lightly we parted at eve | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
| We knew not that Love was born. | 7 | ······· |
| I rose on the morrow forlorn, | 8 | ····/˘˘/ |
| To pine and remember and grieve. | 8 | ···˘/˘·· |
| Too lightly we met in the morn! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Too lightly we parted at eve! | 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.