Valentine
Too high, too high to pluckMy heart shall swing.A fruit no bee shall suck,No wasp shall sting.
If on some night of coldIt falls to groundIn apple-leaves of goldI'll wrap it round.
And I shall seal it upWith spice and salt,In a carven silver cup,In a deep vault.
Before my eyes are blindAnd my lips mute,I must eat core and rindOf that same fruit.
Before my heart is dustAt the end of all,Eat it I must, I mustWere it bitter gall.
But I shall keep it sweetBy some strange art;Wild honey I shall eatWhen I eat my heart.
O honey cool and chasteAs clover's breath!Sweet Heaven I shall tasteBefore my death.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- carven a.
- Wrought by carving; ornamented by carvings; carved.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Valentine is in the public domain. This text is taken from Nets to Catch the Wind, Project Gutenberg ebook #6682; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Elinor Wylie, Valentine, in Nets to Catch the Wind (1921), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6682, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wylie-nets/valentine.html, id L12783.
Form and metre
Valentine is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.1 syllables. 46% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 pluckA · swingB · suckA · stingB
- 2 ABAB coldA · groundB · goldA · roundB
- 3 ABAB upA · saltB · cupA · vaultB
- 4 ABAB blindA · muteB · rindA · fruitB
- 5 ABAB dustA · allB · mustA · gallB
- 6 ABAB sweetA · artB · eatA · heartB
- 7 ABAB chasteA · breathB · tasteA · deathB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Too high, too high to pluck | 6 | ······ |
| My heart shall swing. | 4 | ···· |
| A fruit no bee shall suck, | 6 | ······ |
| No wasp shall sting. | 4 | ···· |
| If on some night of cold | 6 | ······ |
| It falls to ground | 4 | ···· |
| In apple-leaves of gold | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I'll wrap it round. | 4 | ···· |
| And I shall seal it up | 6 | ······ |
| With spice and salt, | 4 | ···· |
| In a carven silver cup, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| In a deep vault. | 4 | ···· |
| Before my eyes are blind | 6 | ······ |
| And my lips mute, | 4 | ···· |
| I must eat core and rind | 6 | ······ |
| Of that same fruit. | 4 | ···· |
| Before my heart is dust | 6 | ······ |
| At the end of all, | 5 | ····· |
| Eat it I must, I must | 6 | ······ |
| Were it bitter gall. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| But I shall keep it sweet | 6 | ······ |
| By some strange art; | 4 | ···· |
| Wild honey I shall eat | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| When I eat my heart. | 5 | ····· |
| O honey cool and chaste | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| As clover's breath! | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Sweet Heaven I shall taste | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Before my death. | 4 | ···· |
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.