Regret
There is a haunting phantom called Regret,A shadowy creature robed somewhat like Woe,But fairer in the face, whom all men knowBy her sad mien and eyes forever wet.No heart would seek her; but once having met,All take her by the hand, and to and froThey wander through those paths of long ago--Those hallowed ways 'twere wiser to forget.
One day she led me to that lost land's gateAnd bade me enter; but I answered "No!I will pass on with my bold comrade, Fate;I have no tears to waste on thee--no time;My strength I hoard for heights I hope to climb:No friend art thou for souls that would be great."
Words in this poem
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Regret 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, Regret, in Poems of Passion (1883), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16776, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wilcox-passion/regret.html, id L22211.
Form and metre
Regret is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. 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 ABBAABBA regretA · woeB · knowB · wetA · metA · froB · agoB · forgetA
- 2 A-ABBA gateA · no · fateA · timeB · climbB · greatA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| There is a haunting phantom called Regret, | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| A shadowy creature robed somewhat like Woe, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·//·· |
| But fairer in the face, whom all men know | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| By her sad mien and eyes forever wet. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| No heart would seek her; but once having met, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| All take her by the hand, and to and fro | 10 | ·········· |
| They wander through those paths of long ago-- | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Those hallowed ways 'twere wiser to forget. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| One day she led me to that lost land's gate | 10 | ·········· |
| And bade me enter; but I answered "No! | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| I will pass on with my bold comrade, Fate; | 10 | ·······/·· |
| I have no tears to waste on thee--no time; | 10 | ·········· |
| My strength I hoard for heights I hope to climb: | 10 | ·········· |
| No friend art thou for souls that would be great." | 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.