Love's Coming
She had looked for his coming as warriors come,With the clash of arms and the bugle's call:But he came instead with a stealthy tread,Which she did not hear at all.
She had thought how his armor would blaze in the sun,As he rode like a prince to claim his bride:In the sweet dim light of the falling nightShe found him at her side.
She had dreamed how the gaze of his strange, bold eyeWould wake her heart to a sudden glow:She found in his face the familiar graceOf a friend she used to know.
She had dreamed how his coming would stir her soul,As the ocean is stirred by the wild storm's strife:He brought her the balm of a heavenly calm,And a peace which crowned her life.
Words in this poem
- rode n.
- Redness; complexion. [See Rud.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Love's Coming 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, Love's Coming, in Poems of Passion (1883), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16776, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wilcox-passion/love-s-coming.html, id L22171.
Form and metre
Love's Coming is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 72%).
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 -A-A come · callA · tread · allA
- 2 -A-A sun · brideA · night · sideA
- 3 -A-A eye · glowA · grace · knowA
- 4 -A-A soul · strifeA · calm · lifeA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| She had looked for his coming as warriors come, | 11 | ·····/˘·/˘· |
| With the clash of arms and the bugle's call: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But he came instead with a stealthy tread, | 10 | ···˘/··/˘· |
| Which she did not hear at all. | 7 | ······· |
| She had thought how his armor would blaze in the sun, | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| As he rode like a prince to claim his bride: | 10 | ·········· |
| In the sweet dim light of the falling night | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| She found him at her side. | 6 | ······ |
| She had dreamed how the gaze of his strange, bold eye | 11 | ··········· |
| Would wake her heart to a sudden glow: | 9 | ······/˘· |
| She found in his face the familiar grace | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Of a friend she used to know. | 7 | ······· |
| She had dreamed how his coming would stir her soul, | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| As the ocean is stirred by the wild storm's strife: | 10 | ··/······· |
| He brought her the balm of a heavenly calm, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And a peace which crowned her life. | 7 | ······· |
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.