Where are you, Dear? by Marie Van Vorst
The speaker waits through the fading winter for a beloved absent person, repeating the question, “Where are you, Dear?” As spring approaches and birds return home, the speaker imagines that the loved one may arrive at night or with the clear dawn. In a warmly prepared little dwelling, with soft curtains drawn, the speaker longs for the cheer of the beloved’s presence by daylight and candlelight.
By Marie Van Vorst · First published 1913 · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Love Poetry, Romantic Poetry · 137 words
First lines
Where are you, Dear, now that the winter white / Has nearly run its course? Spring will be here / And birds shall sing as home they wing their flight, / "Where are you, Dear?"
Thus I have sung and waited thro' the year, / Saying at morning: "You will come with night? " / And in the night: "With the dawn kind and clear,
"You will pass by! " My little dwelling bright / Has its soft curtains drawn; I wait the cheer / Your presence brings by day and candle-light; / "Where are you, Dear? "
What this Textopian page supports
Where are you, Dear? is listed on Textopian as a poem by Marie Van Vorst, dated 1913 CE.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Marie Van Vorst
- Date: 1913 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Love Poetry, Romantic Poetry, Elegiac Poetry, Nature Poetry
- Length: 137 words
- Structure: 1 section, 3 paragraphs
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Where are you, Dear? by Marie Van Vorst
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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Genres
- Lyric Poetry — The work is a short, musical first-person poem centered on personal feeling, repetition, rhythm, and seasonal imagery rather than narrative development.
- Love Poetry — Its speaker repeatedly addresses an absent 'Dear,' expressing longing for the beloved's return and imagining the comfort of that person's presence.
- Romantic Poetry — The poem joins intense individual emotion with idealized natural imagery—winter, spring, birds, dawn, and candlelight—in a manner characteristic of Romantic lyric expression.
- Elegiac Poetry — Although it does not explicitly confirm death, its repeated question and sustained absence create an elegiac mood of loss, waiting, and possible mourning.
Tags
fiction · romance · love · marriage · domestic life · family relationships · social class · American society · women's lives · emotional conflict · manners and customs · upper-class society