A Cheerful Tempered Lover's Farewell to His Mistress
The light winds on the streamers playThat soon shall bear me far away;My comrades give the parting cheer,And I alone have linger'd here.Now Phill. my love, since it will be,And I must bid farewell to thee,Since ev'ry hope of thee is flown,Ne'er send me from thee with a frown;But let me kindly take thy hand,And bid God bless me in a foreign land.
No more I'll loiter by thy side,Well pleas'd thy gamesome taunts to bide;Nor lovers' gambols lightly tryTo make me graceful in thine eye;Nor sing the merry roundelay,To cheer thee at the close of day.Yet ne'ertheless tho' we must part,I'll bear thee still upon my heart;And oft' I'll fill the ruddy glass,To toast my lovely scornful lass.Far hence, upon a foreign shore,Still will I keep an open door,And still my little fortune shareWith all who ever breath'd my native air.And who thy beauteous face hath seen,Or ever near thy dwelling been,Shall push about the flowing bowl,And be the matter of the whole.And ev'ry woman for thy sake,Though proud and cruel, as they're weak,Shall in my walls protection find,Thou fairest of a fickle kind.
O, dearly! dearly! have I paid,Thou little haughty cruel maid,To give that inward peace to thee,Which thou hast ta'en away from me.Soft hast thou slept, with bosom light,Whilst I have watch'd the weary night;And now I cross the surgy deep,That thou may'st still untroubled sleep--But in thine eyes, what do I see,That looks as tho' they pitied me?I thank thee, Phill. yet be not sad,I leave no blame upon thy head.I would, more grac'd with pleasing make,I had been better for thy sake,But yet, perhaps, when I shall dwellFar hence, thou'lt sometimes think how well--I dare not stay, since we must part,T'expose a fond and foolish heart;Where'er I go, it beats for you,God bless ye, Phill. adieu! adieu!
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,]
- flown a.
- Flushed, inflated.
- gamesome a.
- Gay; sportive; playful; frolicsome; merry.
- bide v. i.
- To dwell; to inhabit; to abide; to stay. [OE. biden, AS. bidan; akin to OHG. bitan, Goth. beidan, Icel. bi; perh. orig., to wait with trust, and akin to bid. See Bid, v. t., and cf. Abide.]
- lass n.
- A youth woman; a girl; a sweetheart. [OE. lasse; prob. of Celtic origin; cf. W. llodes girl, fem. of llawd lad. (Lad a youth.]
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
- haughty a.
- High; lofty; bold. [OE. hautein, F. hautain, fr. haut high, OF. also halt, fr. L. altus. See Altitude.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- surgy a.
- Rising in surges or billows; full of surges; resembling surges in motion or appearance; swelling.
- thank n.
- A expression of gratitude; an acknowledgment expressive of a sense of favor or kindness received; obligation, claim, or desert, or gratitude; -- now generally used in the plural. [AS. Þanc, Þonc, thanks, favor, thought; akin to OS. thank favor, pleasure, thanks, D. & G. dank thanks, Icel. Þ\'94kk, Dan. tak, Sw. tack, Goth. Þagks thanks; -]
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Cheerful Tempered Lover's Farewell to His Mistress is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, &c. (1790) Wherein It Is Attempted To Describe Certain Views Of Nature And Of Rustic Manners; And Also, To Point Out, In Some Instances, The Different Influence Which The Same Circumstances Produce On Different Characters, Project Gutenberg ebook #14617; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Joanna Baillie, A Cheerful Tempered Lover's Farewell to His Mistress, in Poems (1790) (1790), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #14617, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/baillie-poems/a-cheerful-tempered-lover-s-farewell-to-his-mistress.html, id L09859.
Form and metre
A Cheerful Tempered Lover's Farewell to His Mistress is 52 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 85% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 8% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AABBCC--DD playA · awayA · cheerB · hereB · beC · theeC · flown · frown · handD · landD
- 2 AABBCCDDEEFFGG--HH--II sideA · bideA · tryB · eyeB · roundelayC · dayC · partD · heartD · glassE · lassE · shoreF · doorF · shareG · airG · seen · been · bowlH · wholeH · sake · weak · findI · kindI
- 3 AABBCCDDBB--EEFFGGHH paidA · maidA · theeB · meB · lightC · nightC · deepD · sleepD · seeB · meB · sad · head · makeE · sakeE · dwellF · wellF · partG · heartG · youH · adieuH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The light winds on the streamers play | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That soon shall bear me far away; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| My comrades give the parting cheer, | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| And I alone have linger'd here. | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Now Phill. my love, since it will be, | 8 | ········ |
| And I must bid farewell to thee, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Since ev'ry hope of thee is flown, | 8 | ········ |
| Ne'er send me from thee with a frown; | 8 | ········ |
| But let me kindly take thy hand, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And bid God bless me in a foreign land. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| No more I'll loiter by thy side, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Well pleas'd thy gamesome taunts to bide; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Nor lovers' gambols lightly try | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To make me graceful in thine eye; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Nor sing the merry roundelay, | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| To cheer thee at the close of day. | 8 | ········ |
| Yet ne'ertheless tho' we must part, | 8 | ········ |
| I'll bear thee still upon my heart; | 8 | ········ |
| And oft' I'll fill the ruddy glass, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To toast my lovely scornful lass. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Far hence, upon a foreign shore, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Still will I keep an open door, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And still my little fortune share | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| With all who ever breath'd my native air. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And who thy beauteous face hath seen, | 9 | ···/˘˘··· |
| Or ever near thy dwelling been, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Shall push about the flowing bowl, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And be the matter of the whole. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And ev'ry woman for thy sake, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Though proud and cruel, as they're weak, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Shall in my walls protection find, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Thou fairest of a fickle kind. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| O, dearly! dearly! have I paid, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Thou little haughty cruel maid, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| To give that inward peace to thee, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Which thou hast ta'en away from me. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Soft hast thou slept, with bosom light, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Whilst I have watch'd the weary night; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And now I cross the surgy deep, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That thou may'st still untroubled sleep-- | 9 | ····˘/˘˘· |
| But in thine eyes, what do I see, | 8 | ········ |
| That looks as tho' they pitied me? | 8 | ·····/·· |
| I thank thee, Phill. yet be not sad, | 8 | ········ |
| I leave no blame upon thy head. | 8 | ········ |
| I would, more grac'd with pleasing make, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I had been better for thy sake, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But yet, perhaps, when I shall dwell | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Far hence, thou'lt sometimes think how well-- | 8 | ···˘/··· |
| I dare not stay, since we must part, | 8 | ········ |
| T'expose a fond and foolish heart; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Where'er I go, it beats for you, | 9 | ˘˘/······ |
| God bless ye, Phill. adieu! adieu! | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
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