A Meeting
Quite carelessly I turned the newsy sheet;A song I sang, full many a year ago,Smiled up at me, as in a busy streetOne meets an old-time friend he used to know.
So full it was, that simple little song,Of all the hope, the transport, and the truth,Which to the impetuous morn of life belong,That once again I seemed to grasp my youth.
So full it was of that sweet, fancied painWe woo and cherish ere we meet with woe,I felt as one who hears a plaintive strainHis mother sang him in the long ago.
Up from the grave the years that lay betweenThat song's birthday and my stern present cameLike phantom forms and swept across the scene,Bearing their broken dreams of love and fame.
Fair hopes and bright ambitions that I knewIn that old time, with their ideal grace,Shone for a moment, then were lost to viewBehind the dull clouds of the commonplace.
With trembling hands I put the sheet away;Ah, little song! the sad and bitter truthStruck like an arrow when we met that day!My life has missed the promise of its youth.
Words in this poem
- newsy a.
- Full of news; abounding in information as to current events.
- 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.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Meeting is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Passion, Project Gutenberg ebook #16776; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ella Wheeler Wilcox, A Meeting, in Poems of Passion (1883), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16776, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wilcox-passion/a-meeting.html, id L22216.
Form and metre
A Meeting is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 ABAB sheetA · agoB · streetA · knowB
- 2 ABAB songA · truthB · belongA · youthB
- 3 ABAB painA · woeB · strainA · agoB
- 4 ABAB betweenA · cameB · sceneA · fameB
- 5 ABAB knewA · graceB · viewA · commonplaceB
- 6 ABAB awayA · truthB · dayA · youthB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Quite carelessly I turned the newsy sheet; | 10 | ·/˘˘···/˘· |
| A song I sang, full many a year ago, | 10 | ·····/··˘/ |
| Smiled up at me, as in a busy street | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| One meets an old-time friend he used to know. | 10 | ·········· |
| So full it was, that simple little song, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Of all the hope, the transport, and the truth, | 10 | ·····˘/··· |
| Which to the impetuous morn of life belong, | 11 | ···˘/˘···˘/ |
| That once again I seemed to grasp my youth. | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| So full it was of that sweet, fancied pain | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| We woo and cherish ere we meet with woe, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| I felt as one who hears a plaintive strain | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| His mother sang him in the long ago. | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Up from the grave the years that lay between | 10 | ·········· |
| That song's birthday and my stern present came | 10 | ··/····˘/· |
| Like phantom forms and swept across the scene, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| Bearing their broken dreams of love and fame. | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Fair hopes and bright ambitions that I knew | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| In that old time, with their ideal grace, | 9 | ······˘/· |
| Shone for a moment, then were lost to view | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Behind the dull clouds of the commonplace. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| With trembling hands I put the sheet away; | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Ah, little song! the sad and bitter truth | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Struck like an arrow when we met that day! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| My life has missed the promise of its youth. | 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.