Skip to content
Linespedia

Sonnet: "I Said I Splendidly Loved You; It's Not True"

By Rupert Brooke

Topics: classic

I said I splendidly loved you; it's not true.     Such long swift tides stir not a land-locked sea.     On gods or fools the high risk falls, on you,     The clean clear bitter-sweet that's not for me.     Love soars from earth to ecstasies unwist.     Love is flung Lucifer-like from Heaven to Hell.     But, there are wanderers in the middle mist,     Who cry for shadows, clutch, and cannot tell     Whether they love at all, or, loving, whom:     An old song's lady, a fool in fancy dress,     Or phantoms, or their own face on the gloom;     For love of Love, or from heart's loneliness.     Pleasure's not theirs, nor pain. They doubt, and sigh,     And do not love at all. Of these am I.

AI analysis available. Enable JavaScript to interact.

About this line

"I said I splendidly loved you; it's not true...."

Exploring the themes of classic, Rupert Brooke delivers a powerful performance in "Sonnet: "I Said I Splendidly Loved You; It's Not True""... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

Attribution & Rights

Author:Rupert Brooke

"I said I splendidly loved you; it's not true...." by Rupert Brooke

For usage rights, copyright concerns, or to report an issue with this content, please visit our Copyright & Report page.

Related lines

"My restless blood now lies a-quiver,     Knowing that always, exquisitely,     This April twilight on the river     Stirs anguish in the heart"

"Today I have been happy. All the day     I held the memory of you, and wove     Its laughter with the dancing light o' the spray,     And sowed"

"Young Mary, loitering once her garden way,     Felt a warm splendour grow in the April day,     As wine that blushes water through. And soon,"

"Sometimes even now I may     Steal a prisoner's holiday,     Slip, when all is worst, the bands,     Hurry back, and duck beneath     Time's o"

"Here morning in the ploughman's songs is met     Ere yet one footstep shows in all the sky,     And twilight in the east, a doubt as yet,     S"

"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

Rupert Brooke

About Rupert Brooke

Rupert Brooke (1887–1915) was an English war poet whose sonnets—including "The Soldier" ("If I should die, think only this of me")—idealized the sacrifice of war. He died of sepsis en route to Gallipoli and became a symbol of the lost generation of WWI.

Full Bibliography
Continue Reading

"My restless blood now lies a-quiver,     Knowing t..."

Weekly Poetic Insight

Join our literary Sanctuary

Get the most inspiring lines, poetic analysis, and secret shayaris delivered to your inbox every Sunday.