A Proud Lover's Farewell to His Mistress
Farewell thou haughty, cruel fair!Upon thy brow no longer wearThat sombre look of cold disdain,Thou ne'er shalt see my face again.Now ev'ry silly wish is o'er,And fears and doubtings are no more.
All cruel as thou art to me,Long has my heart been fix'd on thee;On thee I've mus'd the live-long day,And thought the weary night away;I've trac'd thy footsteps o'er the green,And shar'd thy rambles oft unseen;I've linger'd near thee night and day,When thou hast thought me far away;I've watch'd the turning of thy face,And fondly mark'd thy moving grace;And wept thy rising smiles to see;I've been a fool for love of thee.Yet do not think I stay the whileThy weakly pity to beguile:Let forced favour fruitless prove!The pity curst, that brings not love!No woman e'er shall give me pain,Or ever break my rest again:Nor aught that comes of woman kindHave pow'r again to move my mind.Far on a foreign shore I'll seekSome lonely island, bare and bleak;I'll seek some wild and rugged cell,And with untamed creatures dwell.To hear their cries is now my choice,Far more than man's deceitful voice:To listen to the howling wind,Than luring tongue of womankind.They look not beautiful and good,But ronghsome seem as they are rude.
O Phillis! thou hast wreck'd a heart,Which proudly bears, but feels the smart.Adieu! adieu! should'st thou e'er proveThe pang of ill-requited love,Thou'lt know what I have borne for thee,And then thou wilt remember me.
Words in this poem
- haughty a.
- High; lofty; bold. [OE. hautein, F. hautain, fr. haut high, OF. also halt, fr. L. altus. See Altitude.]
- sombre n.
- Gloom; obscurity; duskiness; somberness.
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- fondly adv.
- Foolishly. Verstegan (1673).
- favour n.
- Kind regard; propitious aspect; countenance; friendly disposition; kindness; good will. [Written also favour.]
- fruitless a.
- Lacking, or not bearing, fruit; barren; destitute of offspring; as, a fruitless tree or shrub; a fruitless marriage.
- curst a.
- Froward; malignant; mischievous; malicious; snarling. [SeeCurse.]
- 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,]
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- 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]
- womankind n.
- The females of the human race; women, collectively.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Proud 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 Proud Lover's Farewell to His Mistress, in Poems (1790) (1790), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #14617, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/baillie-poems/a-proud-lover-s-farewell-to-his-mistress.html, id L09860.
Form and metre
A Proud Lover's Farewell to His Mistress is 42 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 90% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% 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 AABB-- fairA · wearA · disdainB · againB · o'er · more
- 2 AABBCCBBDDAAEEFFGGHHIIJJKKHH-- meA · theeA · dayB · awayB · greenC · unseenC · dayB · awayB · faceD · graceD · seeA · theeA · whileE · beguileE · proveF · loveF · painG · againG · kindH · mindH · seekI · bleakI · cellJ · dwellJ · choiceK · voiceK · windH · womankindH · good · rude
- 3 AABBCC heartA · smartA · proveB · loveB · theeC · meC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Farewell thou haughty, cruel fair! | 8 | ·/·/˘/˘· |
| Upon thy brow no longer wear | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That sombre look of cold disdain, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Thou ne'er shalt see my face again. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Now ev'ry silly wish is o'er, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And fears and doubtings are no more. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| All cruel as thou art to me, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Long has my heart been fix'd on thee; | 8 | ········ |
| On thee I've mus'd the live-long day, | 8 | ········ |
| And thought the weary night away; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| I've trac'd thy footsteps o'er the green, | 8 | ···/···· |
| And shar'd thy rambles oft unseen; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| I've linger'd near thee night and day, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| When thou hast thought me far away; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| I've watch'd the turning of thy face, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And fondly mark'd thy moving grace; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And wept thy rising smiles to see; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I've been a fool for love of thee. | 8 | ········ |
| Yet do not think I stay the while | 8 | ········ |
| Thy weakly pity to beguile: | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Let forced favour fruitless prove! | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| The pity curst, that brings not love! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| No woman e'er shall give me pain, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Or ever break my rest again: | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Nor aught that comes of woman kind | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Have pow'r again to move my mind. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Far on a foreign shore I'll seek | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Some lonely island, bare and bleak; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| I'll seek some wild and rugged cell, | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| And with untamed creatures dwell. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| To hear their cries is now my choice, | 8 | ········ |
| Far more than man's deceitful voice: | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| To listen to the howling wind, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Than luring tongue of womankind. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| They look not beautiful and good, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| But ronghsome seem as they are rude. | 8 | ········ |
| O Phillis! thou hast wreck'd a heart, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Which proudly bears, but feels the smart. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Adieu! adieu! should'st thou e'er prove | 8 | ˘/˘/···· |
| The pang of ill-requited love, | 8 | ········ |
| Thou'lt know what I have borne for thee, | 8 | ········ |
| And then thou wilt remember me. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
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