Bid Adieu to Maidenhood

James Joyce 1882 (Rathgar) – 1941 (Zürich)



Bid adieu, adieu, adieu,
Bid adieu to girlish days,
Happy Love is come to woo
Thee and woo thy girlish ways—
The zone that doth become thee fair,
The snood upon thy yellow hair,

When thou hast heard his name upon
The bugles of the cherubim
Begin thou softly to unzone
Thy girlish bosom unto him
And softly to undo the snood
That is the sign of maidenhood.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

21 sec read
429

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCC DEDEAA
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 354
Words 70
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 6, 6

James Joyce

ames Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century.  more…

All James Joyce poems | James Joyce Books

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