My Heritage
I into life so full of love was sentThat all the shadows which fall on the wayOf every human being could not stay,But fled before the light my spirit lent.
I saw the world through gold and crimson dyes:Men sighed and said, "Those rosy hues will fadeAs you pass on into the glare and shade!"Still beautiful the way seems to mine eyes.
They said, "You are too jubilant and glad;The world is full of sorrow and of wrong.Full soon your lips shall breathe forth sighs--not song."The day wears on, and yet I am not sad.
They said, "You love too largely, and you must,Through wound on wound, grow bitter to your kind."They were false prophets; day by day I findMore cause for love, and less cause for distrust.
They said, "Too free you give your soul's rare wine;The world will quaff, but it will not repay."Yet in the emptied flagons, day by day,True hearts pour back a nectar as divine.
Thy heritage! Is it not love's estate?Look to it, then, and keep its soil well tilled.I hold that my best wishes are fulfilledBecause I love so much, and cannot hate.
Words in this poem
- glare v. i.
- To shine with a bright, dazzling light. [OE. glaren, gloren; cf. AS. glær amber, LG. glaren to glow or burn like coals, D. gloren to glimmer; prob. akin to E. glass.]
- jubilant a.
- Uttering songs of triumph; shouting with joy; triumphant; exulting. [L. jubilans, -antis, p. pr. of jubilare to shout for joy: cf. F. jubila. See Jubilate.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- quaff v. t.
- To drink with relish; to drink copiously of; to swallow in large draughts. [For quach, fr. Gael. & Ir. cuach a drinking cup; cf. L. caucus a drinking vessel. Cf. Quaigh.]
- heritage a.
- That which is inherited, or passes from heir to heir; inheritance. [OE. heritage, eritage, OF. heritage, eritage, F. héritage, fr. hériter to inherit, LL. heriditare. See Hereditable.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
My Heritage 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, My Heritage, in Poems of Passion (1883), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16776, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wilcox-passion/my-heritage.html, id L22200.
Form and metre
My Heritage is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBA. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 ABBA sentA · wayB · stayB · lentA
- 2 ABBA dyesA · fadeB · shadeB · eyesA
- 3 ABBA gladA · wrongB · songB · sadA
- 4 ABBA mustA · kindB · findB · distrustA
- 5 ABBA wineA · repayB · dayB · divineA
- 6 ABBA estateA · tilledB · fulfilledB · hateA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I into life so full of love was sent | 10 | ·········· |
| That all the shadows which fall on the way | 10 | ···/······ |
| Of every human being could not stay, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| But fled before the light my spirit lent. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I saw the world through gold and crimson dyes: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Men sighed and said, "Those rosy hues will fade | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| As you pass on into the glare and shade!" | 10 | ·········· |
| Still beautiful the way seems to mine eyes. | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| They said, "You are too jubilant and glad; | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| The world is full of sorrow and of wrong. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Full soon your lips shall breathe forth sighs--not song." | 10 | ·········· |
| The day wears on, and yet I am not sad. | 10 | ·········· |
| They said, "You love too largely, and you must, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Through wound on wound, grow bitter to your kind." | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| They were false prophets; day by day I find | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| More cause for love, and less cause for distrust. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| They said, "Too free you give your soul's rare wine; | 10 | ·········· |
| The world will quaff, but it will not repay." | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Yet in the emptied flagons, day by day, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| True hearts pour back a nectar as divine. | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Thy heritage! Is it not love's estate? | 10 | ·/˘˘····˘/ |
| Look to it, then, and keep its soil well tilled. | 10 | ·········· |
| I hold that my best wishes are fulfilled | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Because I love so much, and cannot hate. | 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.