To the Honourable Charles Townshend; from the Country
Say, Townshend, what can London boastTo pay thee for the pleasures lost,The health to-day resign'd,When Spring from this her favourite seatBade Winter hasten his retreat,And met the western wind.
Oh, knew'st thou how the balmy air,The sun, the azure heavens prepareTo heal thy languid frame,No more would noisy courts engage;In vain would lying Faction's rageThy sacred leisure claim.
Oft I look'd forth, and oft admired;Till with the studious volume tiredI sought the open day;And sure, I cried, the rural godsExpect me in their green abodes,And chide my tardy lay.
But ah, in vain my restless feetTraced every silent shady seatWhich knew their forms of old:Nor Naiad by her fountain laid,Nor Wood-nymph tripping through her glade,Did now their rites unfold:
Whether to nurse some infant oakThey turn--the slowly tinkling brook,And catch the pearly showers,Or brush the mildew from the woods,Or paint with noontide beams the buds,Or breathe on opening flowers.
Such rites, which they with Spring renew,The eyes of care can never view;And care hath long been mine:And hence offended with their guest,Since grief of love my soul oppress'd,They hide their toils divine.
But soon shall thy enlivening tongueThis heart, by dear affliction wrung,With noble hope inspire:Then will the sylvan powers againReceive me in their genial train,And listen to my lyre.
Beneath yon Dryad's lonely shadeA rustic altar shall be paid,Of turf with laurel framed;And thou the inscription wilt approve:'This for the peace which, lost by love,By friendship was reclaim'd'
Words in this poem
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- balmy a.
- Having the qualities of balm; odoriferous; aromatic; assuaging; soothing; refreshing; mild.
- admired a.
- Regarded with wonder and delight; highly prized; as, an admired poem.
- expect v. t.
- To wait for; to await. [L. expectatum, to look out for, await, expect; ex + out spectare to look at. See Spectacle.]
- naiad n.
- A water nymph; one of the lower female divinities, fabled to preside over some body of fresh water, as a lake, river, brook, or fountain. [L. naias, -adis, naïs, -idis, a water nymph, Gr naïade. Cf. Naid.]
- glade n.
- An open passage through a wood; a grassy open or cleared space in a forest. [Prob. of Scand. origin, and akin to glad, a.; cf. also W. golead, goleuad, a lighting, illumination, fr. goleu light, clear, bright, goleu fwlch glade, lit., a ]
- mildew n.
- A growth of minute powdery or webby fungi, whitish or of different colors, found on various diseased or decaying substances. [AS. meledeáw; akin to OHG. militou, G. mehlthau, mehltau; prob. orig. meaning, honeydew; cf. Goth. milip honey. See Mellifluous, and Dew.]
- noontide n.
- The time of noon; midday. [From noon + tide time; cf. AS. n the ninth hour.]
- 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,]
- genial a.
- Contributing to, or concerned in, propagation or production; generative; procreative; productive. [L. genialis: cf. OF. genial. See Genius.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To the Honourable Charles Townshend; from the Country 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, To the Honourable Charles Townshend; from the Country, in The Poetical Works of Mark Akenside (1744), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9814, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/akenside-poems/to-the-honourable-charles-townshend-from-the-country.html, id L09515.
Form and metre
To the Honourable Charles Townshend; from the Country is 48 lines in 8 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABCCB, complete in 5 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.6 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 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 --ABBA boast · lost · resign'dA · seatB · retreatB · windA
- 2 AABCCB airA · prepareA · frameB · engageC · rageC · claimB
- 3 AAB--B admiredA · tiredA · dayB · gods · abodes · layB
- 4 AABCCB feetA · seatA · oldB · laidC · gladeC · unfoldB
- 5 --A--A oak · brook · showersA · woods · buds · flowersA
- 6 AABCCB renewA · viewA · mineB · guestC · oppress'dC · divineB
- 7 AABCCB tongueA · wrungA · inspireB · againC · trainC · lyreB
- 8 AABCCB shadeA · paidA · framedB · approveC · loveC · reclaim'dB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Say, Townshend, what can London boast | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| To pay thee for the pleasures lost, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The health to-day resign'd, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| When Spring from this her favourite seat | 9 | ········· |
| Bade Winter hasten his retreat, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| And met the western wind. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Oh, knew'st thou how the balmy air, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The sun, the azure heavens prepare | 9 | ···/˘/˘˘/ |
| To heal thy languid frame, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| No more would noisy courts engage; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| In vain would lying Faction's rage | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Thy sacred leisure claim. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Oft I look'd forth, and oft admired; | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| Till with the studious volume tired | 10 | ···/˘˘/˘/˘ |
| I sought the open day; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And sure, I cried, the rural gods | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Expect me in their green abodes, | 8 | ˘/····˘/ |
| And chide my tardy lay. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But ah, in vain my restless feet | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Traced every silent shady seat | 10 | ·˘/˘˘/˘/˘· |
| Which knew their forms of old: | 6 | ······ |
| Nor Naiad by her fountain laid, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Nor Wood-nymph tripping through her glade, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Did now their rites unfold: | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Whether to nurse some infant oak | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| They turn--the slowly tinkling brook, | 9 | ···/˘/˘˘· |
| And catch the pearly showers, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Or brush the mildew from the woods, | 8 | ···/···· |
| Or paint with noontide beams the buds, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Or breathe on opening flowers. | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| Such rites, which they with Spring renew, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The eyes of care can never view; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And care hath long been mine: | 6 | ······ |
| And hence offended with their guest, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Since grief of love my soul oppress'd, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| They hide their toils divine. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| But soon shall thy enlivening tongue | 9 | ····˘/˘˘· |
| This heart, by dear affliction wrung, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| With noble hope inspire: | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Then will the sylvan powers again | 9 | ···/˘/˘˘/ |
| Receive me in their genial train, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| And listen to my lyre. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Beneath yon Dryad's lonely shade | 7 | ····/˘· |
| A rustic altar shall be paid, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Of turf with laurel framed; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And thou the inscription wilt approve: | 9 | ···˘/˘·˘/ |
| 'This for the peace which, lost by love, | 8 | ········ |
| By friendship was reclaim'd' | 6 | ·/˘··· |
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