The Complaint
Away! away!Tempt me no more, insidious love:Thy soothing swayLong did my youthful bosom prove:At length thy treason is discern'd,At length some dear-bought caution earn'd:Away! nor hope my riper age to move.
I know, I seeHer merit. Needs it now be shown,Alas, to me?How often, to myself unknown,The graceful, gentle, virtuous maidHave I admired! How often said,What joy to call a heart like hers one's own!
But, flattering god,O squanderer of content and ease,In thy abodeWill care's rude lesson learn to please?O say, deceiver, hast thou wonProud Fortune to attend thy throne,Or placed thy friends above her stern decrees?
Words in this poem
- insidious a.
- Lying in wait; watching an opportunity to insnare or entrap; deceitful; sly; treacherous; -- said of persons; as, the insidious foe. [L. insidiosus, fr. insidiae an ambush, fr. insidere to sit in; pref. in- + sedere to sit: cf. F. insidieux. See Sit.]
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- virtuous a.
- Possessing or exhibiting virtue. Specifically: -- (a) Exhibiting manly courage and strength; valorous; valiant; brave. [OE. vertuous, OF. vertuos, vertuous, F. vertueux, fr. L. Virtuous. See Virtue, and cf. Virtuoso.]
- admired a.
- Regarded with wonder and delight; highly prized; as, an admired poem.
- squanderer n.
- One who squanders.
- abode n.
- Act of waiting; delay. [OE. abad, abood, fr. abiden to abide. See Abide. For the change of vowel, cf. abode, imp. of abide.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Complaint 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, The Complaint, in The Poetical Works of Mark Akenside (1744), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9814, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/akenside-poems/the-complaint.html, id L09539.
Form and metre
The Complaint is 21 lines in 3 stanzas of 7 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.4 syllables. 24% 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 ABABCCB awayA · loveB · swayA · proveB · discern'dC · earn'dC · moveB
- 2 ABAB--B seeA · shownB · meA · unknownB · maid · said · ownB
- 3 -A-A--A god · easeA · abode · pleaseA · won · throne · decreesA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Away! away! | 4 | ˘/˘/ |
| Tempt me no more, insidious love: | 9 | ····˘/˘˘· |
| Thy soothing sway | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Long did my youthful bosom prove: | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| At length thy treason is discern'd, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| At length some dear-bought caution earn'd: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Away! nor hope my riper age to move. | 10 | ˘/········ |
| I know, I see | 4 | ···· |
| Her merit. Needs it now be shown, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Alas, to me? | 4 | ˘/·· |
| How often, to myself unknown, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘/ |
| The graceful, gentle, virtuous maid | 9 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘· |
| Have I admired! How often said, | 10 | ··˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| What joy to call a heart like hers one's own! | 10 | ·········· |
| But, flattering god, | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| O squanderer of content and ease, | 9 | ·/˘˘·/˘·· |
| In thy abode | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Will care's rude lesson learn to please? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| O say, deceiver, hast thou won | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Proud Fortune to attend thy throne, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Or placed thy friends above her stern decrees? | 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.