An Answer
If all the year was summer time,And all the aim of lifeWas just to lilt on like a rhyme,Then I would be your wife.
If all the days were August days,And crowned with golden weather,How happy then through green-clad waysWe two could stray together!
If all the nights were moonlit nights,And we had naught to doBut just to sit and plan delights,Then I would wed with you.
If life was all a summer fete,Its soberest pace the "glide,"Then I would choose you for my mate,And keep you at my side.
But winter makes full half the year,And labor half of life,And all the laughter and good cheerGive place to wearing strife.
Days will grow cold, and moons wax old.And then a heart that's trueIs better far than grace or gold--And so, my love, adieu!I cannot wed with you.
Words in this poem
- lilt v. i.
- To do anything with animation and quickness, as to skip, fly, or hop. [Cf. Norw. lilla, lirla, to sing in a high tone.]
- moonlit a.
- Illumined by the moon.
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
An Answer 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, An Answer, in Poems of Passion (1883), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16776, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wilcox-passion/an-answer.html, id L22178.
Form and metre
An Answer is 25 lines in 6 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See other poems in common measure.
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 timeA · lifeB · rhymeA · wifeB
- 2 ABAB daysA · weatherB · waysA · togetherB
- 3 ABAB nightsA · doB · delightsA · youB
- 4 ABAB feteA · glideB · mateA · sideB
- 5 ABAB yearA · lifeB · cheerA · strifeB
- 6 ABABB oldA · trueB · goldA · adieuB · youB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| If all the year was summer time, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And all the aim of life | 6 | ······ |
| Was just to lilt on like a rhyme, | 8 | ········ |
| Then I would be your wife. | 6 | ······ |
| If all the days were August days, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And crowned with golden weather, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| How happy then through green-clad ways | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| We two could stray together! | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| If all the nights were moonlit nights, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| And we had naught to do | 6 | ······ |
| But just to sit and plan delights, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Then I would wed with you. | 6 | ······ |
| If life was all a summer fete, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Its soberest pace the "glide," | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| Then I would choose you for my mate, | 8 | ········ |
| And keep you at my side. | 6 | ······ |
| But winter makes full half the year, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And labor half of life, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And all the laughter and good cheer | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Give place to wearing strife. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Days will grow cold, and moons wax old. | 8 | ········ |
| And then a heart that's true | 6 | ······ |
| Is better far than grace or gold-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And so, my love, adieu! | 6 | ····˘/ |
| I cannot wed with you. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
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.