Guilo
Yes, yes! I love thee, Guilo; thee alone.Why dost thou sigh, and wear that face of sorrow?The sunshine is to-day's, although it shoneOn yesterday, and may shine on to-morrow.
I love but thee, my Guilo! be content;The greediest heart can claim but present pleasure.The future is thy God's. The past is spent.To-day is thine; clasp close the precious treasure.
See how I love thee, Guilo! Lips and eyesCould never under thy fond gaze dissemble.I could not feign these passion-laden sighs;Deceiving thee, my pulses would not tremble.
"So I loved Romney." Hush, thou foolish one--I should forget him wholly wouldst thou let me;Or but remember that his day was doneFrom that supremest hour when first I met thee.
"And Paul?" Well, what of Paul? Paul had blue eyes,And Romney gray, and thine are darkly tender!One finds fresh feelings under change of skies--A new horizon brings a newer splendor.
As I love thee I never loved before;Believe me, Guilo, for I speak most truly.What though to Romney and to Paul I sworeThe self-same words; my heart now worships newly.
We never feel the same emotion twice:No two ships ever ploughed the self-same billow;The waters change with every fall and rise;So, Guilo, go contented to thy pillow.
Words in this poem
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- dissemble v. t.
- To hide under a false semblance or seeming; to feign (something) not to be what it really is; to put an untrue appearance upon; to disguise; to mask. [OF. dissembler to be dissimilar; pref. dis- (L. dis-) + F. sembler to seem, L. simulare to simulate; cf. L. dissimulare to dissemble. See Simulate, and cf. Diss]
- billow n.
- A great wave or surge of the sea or other water, caused usually by violent wind. [Cf. Icel. bylgja billow, Dan. bölge, Sw. bölja; akin to MHG. bulge billow, bag, and to E. bulge. See Bulge.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Guilo 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, Guilo, in Poems of Passion (1883), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16776, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wilcox-passion/guilo.html, id L22152.
Form and metre
Guilo is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 6 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 aloneA · sorrowB · shoneA · morrowB
- 2 ABAB contentA · pleasureB · spentA · treasureB
- 3 ABAB eyesA · dissembleB · sighsA · trembleB
- 4 ABAB oneA · meB · doneA · theeB
- 5 ABAB eyesA · tenderB · skiesA · splendorB
- 6 ABAB beforeA · trulyB · sworeA · newlyB
- 7 -A-A twice · billowA · rise · pillowA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Yes, yes! I love thee, Guilo; thee alone. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Why dost thou sigh, and wear that face of sorrow? | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| The sunshine is to-day's, although it shone | 10 | ·/········ |
| On yesterday, and may shine on to-morrow. | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| I love but thee, my Guilo! be content; | 10 | ········/˘ |
| The greediest heart can claim but present pleasure. | 11 | ··˘····/˘/˘ |
| The future is thy God's. The past is spent. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| To-day is thine; clasp close the precious treasure. | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| See how I love thee, Guilo! Lips and eyes | 10 | ·········· |
| Could never under thy fond gaze dissemble. | 11 | ·/˘·····˘/˘ |
| I could not feign these passion-laden sighs; | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Deceiving thee, my pulses would not tremble. | 11 | ˘/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| "So I loved Romney." Hush, thou foolish one-- | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| I should forget him wholly wouldst thou let me; | 11 | ··˘/·/˘···· |
| Or but remember that his day was done | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| From that supremest hour when first I met thee. | 11 | ··˘/˘/····· |
| "And Paul?" Well, what of Paul? Paul had blue eyes, | 10 | ·········· |
| And Romney gray, and thine are darkly tender! | 11 | ·/˘····/˘/˘ |
| One finds fresh feelings under change of skies-- | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| A new horizon brings a newer splendor. | 11 | ··˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| As I love thee I never loved before; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Believe me, Guilo, for I speak most truly. | 11 | ˘/·······/˘ |
| What though to Romney and to Paul I swore | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The self-same words; my heart now worships newly. | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| We never feel the same emotion twice: | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| No two ships ever ploughed the self-same billow; | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| The waters change with every fall and rise; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| So, Guilo, go contented to thy pillow. | 11 | ····˘/˘··/˘ |
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.