Lyric Poem · Life
I Remember, I Remember
by Thomas Hood · 1826
I remember, I remember
The house where I was born,
The little window where the sun
Came peeping in at morn;
He never came a wink too soon
Nor brought too long a day;
But now, I often wish the night
Had borne my breath away.
I remember, I remember
The roses, red and white,
The violets, and the lily-cups—
Those flowers made of light!
The lilacs where the robin built,
And where my brother set
The laburnum on his birthday,—
The tree is living yet!
I remember, I remember
Where I was used to swing,
And thought the air must rush as fresh
To swallows on the wing;
My spirit flew in feathers then
That is so heavy now,
And summer pools could hardly cool
The fever on my brow.
I remember, I remember
The fir trees dark and high;
I used to think their slender tops
Were close against the sky:
It was a childish ignorance,
But now 'tis little joy
To know I'm farther off from Heaven
Than when I was a boy.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“I Remember, I Remember” by Thomas Hood — quilloak.com/poems/i-remember-i-remember
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 remember”Repeated lines act as the poem's hinge or drumbeat.
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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