Affected Indifference. To the Same
Yes: you contemn the perjured maidWho all your favourite hopes betray'd:Nor, though her heart should home return,Her tuneful tongue its falsehood mourn,Her winning eyes your faith implore,Would you her hand receive again,Or once dissemble your disdain,Or listen to the siren's theme,Or stoop to love: since now esteemAnd confidence, and friendship, is no more.
Yet tell me, Phaedria, tell me why,When, summoning your pride, you tryTo meet her looks with cool neglect,Or cross her walk with slight respect(For so is falsehood best repaid),Whence do your cheeks indignant glow?Why is your struggling tongue so slow?What means that darkness on your brow,As if with all her broken vowYou meant the fair apostate to upbraid?
Words in this poem
- contemn v. t.
- To view or treat with contempt, as mean and despicable; to reject with disdain; to despise; to scorn. [L. contemnere, -temptum; con- + temnere to slight, despise: cf. OF. contemner.]
- perjured a.
- Guilty of perjury; having sworn falsely; forsworn.
- tuneful a.
- Harmonious; melodious; musical; as, tuneful notes.
- dissemble v. t.
- To hide under a false semblance or seeming; to feign (something) not to be what it really is; to put an untrue appearance upon; to disguise; to mask. [OF. dissembler to be dissimilar; pref. dis- (L. dis-) + F. sembler to seem, L. simulare to simulate; cf. L. dissimulare to dissemble. See Simulate, and cf. Diss]
- indignant a.
- Affected with indignation; wrathful; passionate; irate; feeling wrath, as when a person is exasperated by unworthy or unjust treatment, by a mean action, or by a degrading accusation. [L. indignans, -antis, p. pr. of indignari to be indignant, disdain. See Indign.]
- upbraid n.
- The act of reproaching; contumely.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Affected Indifference. To the Same is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Mark Akenside, Project Gutenberg ebook #9814; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Mark Akenside, Affected Indifference. To the Same, in The Poetical Works of Mark Akenside (1744), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9814, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/akenside-poems/affected-indifference-to-the-same.html, id L09501.
Form and metre
Affected Indifference. To the Same is 20 lines in 2 stanzas of 10 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.3 syllables. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AA--BCCDDB maidA · betray'dA · return · mourn · imploreB · againC · disdainC · themeD · esteemD · moreB
- 2 AABBCDDEEC whyA · tryA · neglectB · respectB · repaidC · glowD · slowD · browE · vowE · upbraidC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Yes: you contemn the perjured maid | 9 | ··˘/·/˘˘· |
| Who all your favourite hopes betray'd: | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| Nor, though her heart should home return, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Her tuneful tongue its falsehood mourn, | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| Her winning eyes your faith implore, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Would you her hand receive again, | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| Or once dissemble your disdain, | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| Or listen to the siren's theme, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Or stoop to love: since now esteem | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And confidence, and friendship, is no more. | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| Yet tell me, Phaedria, tell me why, | 8 | ········ |
| When, summoning your pride, you try | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| To meet her looks with cool neglect, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Or cross her walk with slight respect | 8 | ······˘/ |
| (For so is falsehood best repaid), | 8 | ···/··˘/ |
| Whence do your cheeks indignant glow? | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Why is your struggling tongue so slow? | 9 | ···/˘˘··· |
| What means that darkness on your brow, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| As if with all her broken vow | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| You meant the fair apostate to upbraid? | 10 | ····˘/˘·/· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.