Iii.—1
Yet then did Pleasure's lawless throng,Oft rushing forth in loose attire,Thy virgin dance, thy graceful songPollute with impious revels dire.O fair, O chaste, thy echoing shadeMay no foul discord here invade:Nor let thy strings one accent move,Except what earth's untroubled ear'Mid all her social tribes may hear,And heaven's unerring throne approve.
Words in this poem
- dire a.
- Ill-boding; portentous; as, dire omens. [L. dirus; of uncertain origin.]
- unerring a.
- Committing no mistake; incapable or error or failure certain; sure; unfailing; as, the unerring wisdom of God.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Iii.—1 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, Iii.—1, in The Poetical Works of Mark Akenside (1744), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9814, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/akenside-poems/iii-1-2.html, id L09512.
Form and metre
Iii.—1 is 10 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCCDEED. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.5 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 30% 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 ABABCCDEED throngA · attireB · songA · direB · shadeC · invadeC · moveD · earE · hearE · approveD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Yet then did Pleasure's lawless throng, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Oft rushing forth in loose attire, | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| Thy virgin dance, thy graceful song | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Pollute with impious revels dire. | 9 | ˘/·˘/˘/˘· |
| O fair, O chaste, thy echoing shade | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| May no foul discord here invade: | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Nor let thy strings one accent move, | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| Except what earth's untroubled ear | 9 | ····˘/˘˘· |
| 'Mid all her social tribes may hear, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And heaven's unerring throne approve. | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘·˘/ |
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.