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Lyric Poem · Life

I Remember, I Remember

by Thomas Hood · 1826

1I remember, I remember

2The house where I was born,

3The little window where the sun

4Came peeping in at morn;

5He never came a wink too soon

6Nor brought too long a day;

7But now, I often wish the night

8Had borne my breath away.

9I remember, I remember

10The roses, red and white,

11The violets, and the lily-cups—

12Those flowers made of light!

13The lilacs where the robin built,

14And where my brother set

15The laburnum on his birthday,—

16The tree is living yet!

17I remember, I remember

18Where I was used to swing,

19And thought the air must rush as fresh

20To swallows on the wing;

21My spirit flew in feathers then

22That is so heavy now,

23And summer pools could hardly cool

24The fever on my brow.

25I remember, I remember

26The fir trees dark and high;

27I used to think their slender tops

28Were close against the sky:

29It was a childish ignorance,

30But now 'tis little joy

31To know I'm farther off from Heaven

32Than when I was a boy.

Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.

Quick facts

Poem
I Remember, I Remember
Poet
Thomas Hood
Published
1826
Length
32 lines
Form
Lyric Poem, Rhyming Poems
Themes
Life, Sad, Childhood

Craft notes

How this poem works

Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape
32 lines · 4 octaves
Line length
Lines run 6-8 syllables (median 8), consistent with tetrameter. No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
Refrain
I remember, I rememberRepeated lines act as the poem's hinge or drumbeat.
The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake

Text, source & rights

A traceable edition

Full-text display is based on the cited edition and a United States term-expiry review.

Author record
Thomas Hood1799–1845
Source record
WikisourceI Remember, I Remember by thomas-hood, Wikisource transcription
Display decision
Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record
1826
Text fingerprint
SHA-256 51e3b7dd44504e58
Editorial handling
Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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