Song
The shape alone let others prize,The features of the fair;I look for spirit in her eyes,And meaning in her air;
A damask cheek, an ivory arm,Shall ne'er my wishes win:Give me an animated form,That speaks a mind within;
A face where awful honour shines,Where sense and sweetness move,And angel innocence refinesThe tenderness of love.
These are the soul of Beauty's frame;Without whose vital aid,Unfinish'd all her features seem,And all her roses dead.
But, ah! where both their charms unite,How perfect is the view,With every image of delight,With graces ever new:
Of power to charm the greatest woe,The wildest rage control,Diffusing mildness o'er the brow,And rapture through the soul.
Their power but faintly to express,All language must despair;But go, behold Arpasia's face,And read it perfect there.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Song 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, Song, in The Poetical Works of Mark Akenside (1744), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9814, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/akenside-poems/song.html, id L09554.
Form and metre
Song is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABAB, in 3 of the 7 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables.
See other poems in common measure.
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 ABAB prizeA · fairB · eyesA · airB
- 2 -A-A arm · winA · form · withinA
- 3 ABAB shinesA · moveB · refinesA · loveB
- 5 ABAB uniteA · viewB · delightA · newB
- 6 -A-A woe · controlA · brow · soulA
- 7 -A-A express · despairA · face · thereA
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The shape alone let others prize, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| The features of the fair; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I look for spirit in her eyes, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And meaning in her air; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| A damask cheek, an ivory arm, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘˘· |
| Shall ne'er my wishes win: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Give me an animated form, | 8 | ···/˘·˘· |
| That speaks a mind within; | 6 | ······ |
| A face where awful honour shines, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Where sense and sweetness move, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And angel innocence refines | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| The tenderness of love. | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| These are the soul of Beauty's frame; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Without whose vital aid, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Unfinish'd all her features seem, | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| And all her roses dead. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But, ah! where both their charms unite, | 8 | ······/· |
| How perfect is the view, | 6 | ·˘/··· |
| With every image of delight, | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘·˘/ |
| With graces ever new: | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Of power to charm the greatest woe, | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| The wildest rage control, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Diffusing mildness o'er the brow, | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| And rapture through the soul. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Their power but faintly to express, | 9 | ·/˘·/˘·˘/ |
| All language must despair; | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| But go, behold Arpasia's face, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| And read it perfect there. | 6 | ···˘/· |
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.