Una

Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803 (Boston) – 1882 (Concord)



Roving, roving, as it seems,
Una lights my clouded dreams;
Still for journeys she is dressed;
We wander far by east and west.

In the homestead, homely thought;
At my work I ramble not;
If from home chance draw me wide,
Half-seen Una sits beside.

In my house and garden-plot,
Though beloved, I miss her not;
But one I seek in foreign places,
One face explore in foreign faces.

At home a deeper thought may light
The inward sky with chrysolite,
And I greet from far the ray,
Aurora of a dearer day.

But if upon the seas I sail,
Or trundle on the glowing rail,
I am but a thought of hers,
Loveliest of travellers.

So the gentle poet's name
To foreign parts is blown by fame;
Seek him in his native town,
He is hidden and unknown.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

42 sec read
72

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABB XCDD CCEE XBFF GGHH IIXX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 711
Words 141
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. more…

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    "Una" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 18 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/29891/una>.

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    From Ralph Waldo Emerson’s The Test, “Sunshine cannot _____ the snow, Nor time unmake what poets know.
    A bleach
    B beseech
    C reach
    D leach