Beppo
Why art thou sad, my Beppo? But last eve,Here at my feet, thy dear head on my breast,I heard thee say thy heart would no more grieveOr feel the olden ennui and unrest.
What troubles thee? Am I not all thine own?--I, so long sought, so sighed for and so dear?And do I not live but for thee alone?"Thou hast seen Lippo, whom I loved last year!"
Well, what of that? Last year is naught to me--'Tis swallowed in the ocean of the past.Art thou not glad 'twas Lippo, and not thee,Whose brief bright day in that great gulf was cast.Thy day is all before thee. Let no cloud,Here in the very morn of our delight,Drift up from distant foreign skies, to shroudOur sun of love whose radiance is so bright.
"Thou art not first?" Nay, and he who would beDefeats his own heart's dearest purpose then.No truer truth was ever told to thee--Who has loved most, he best can love again.If Lippo (and not he alone) has taughtThe arts that please thee, wherefore art thou sad?Since all my vast love-lore to thee is brought,Look up and smile, my Beppo, and be glad.
Words in this poem
- olden a.
- Old; ancient; as, the olden time.
- ennui n.
- A feeling of weariness and disgust; dullness and languor of spirits, arising from satiety or want of interest; tedium. T. Gray. [F., fr. L. in odio in hatred. See Annoy.]
- unrest n.
- Want of rest or repose; unquietness; sleeplessness; uneasiness; disquietude.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- 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.]
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Beppo 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, Beppo, in Poems of Passion (1883), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16776, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wilcox-passion/beppo.html, id L22167.
Form and metre
Beppo is 24 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
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 eveA · breastB · grieveA · unrestB
- 2 ABAB ownA · dearB · aloneA · yearB
- 3 ABABCDCD meA · pastB · theeA · castB · cloudC · delightD · shroudC · brightD
- 4 ABABCDCD beA · thenB · theeA · againB · taughtC · sadD · broughtC · gladD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Why art thou sad, my Beppo? But last eve, | 10 | ·········· |
| Here at my feet, thy dear head on my breast, | 10 | ·········· |
| I heard thee say thy heart would no more grieve | 10 | ·········· |
| Or feel the olden ennui and unrest. | 11 | ···/˘˘/˘·˘/ |
| What troubles thee? Am I not all thine own?-- | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| I, so long sought, so sighed for and so dear? | 10 | ·········· |
| And do I not live but for thee alone? | 10 | ········˘/ |
| "Thou hast seen Lippo, whom I loved last year!" | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Well, what of that? Last year is naught to me-- | 10 | ·········· |
| 'Tis swallowed in the ocean of the past. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Art thou not glad 'twas Lippo, and not thee, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Whose brief bright day in that great gulf was cast. | 10 | ·········· |
| Thy day is all before thee. Let no cloud, | 10 | ·········· |
| Here in the very morn of our delight, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘/ |
| Drift up from distant foreign skies, to shroud | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Our sun of love whose radiance is so bright. | 10 | /····/˘··· |
| "Thou art not first?" Nay, and he who would be | 10 | ·········· |
| Defeats his own heart's dearest purpose then. | 10 | ˘/···/˘/˘· |
| No truer truth was ever told to thee-- | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Who has loved most, he best can love again. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| If Lippo (and not he alone) has taught | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| The arts that please thee, wherefore art thou sad? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Since all my vast love-lore to thee is brought, | 10 | ·········· |
| Look up and smile, my Beppo, and be glad. | 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.