Rebecca
Letitia Elizabeth Landon 1802 (Chelsea) – 1838 (Cape Coast)
She looketh on the glittering scene
With an unquiet eye;
The shadow of the wakening heart
Is passing darkly by.
The heart that is a woman’s world,
Her temple and her home,
Which coloureth with itself her cares,
Whence all her joys must come.
All generous feelings nursed the love
That out of pity came;
Womanly kindness, suffering truth,
Might sanctify its claim.
But better had she shared the doom,
She bade from him depart;
Death has no bitterness like life,
Life with a wasted heart.
Proud—beautiful—she boweth down
Beneath one deep despair;
Youth lingers lovely on her cheek,
It only lingers there.
She will command herself, and bear
The doom by Fate assigned;
In natures high as her's, the heart
Is mastered by the mind.
But not the less ’tis desolate,
All lofty thoughts and dreams;
The poetry, with whose deep life
All stronger feeling teems.
These aggravate the ill, and give
A misery of their own;
The gifted spirit suffers much,
To common ones unknown.
Why did she love? Alas, such choice
Is not at woman’s will;
Once must she love, and on that cast
Is set life’s good or ill.
Sorrows, and timid cares, and tears,
The happiest entertain;
But this world has no other hope,
For her who loves in vain.
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Submitted by Madeleine Quinn on February 28, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:04 min read
- 16 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XABAXXCX XDXDXBEB XFXFFGBG XHEHXIXI XJXJCKXK |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,290 |
Words | 215 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
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"Rebecca" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/52632/rebecca>.
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