Now the Right Hon. Lady St. John
Louisa, while thy pliant fingers traceThe solemn beauties of the prospect round,Or, on thy instrument, with touching grace,Awaken all the witcheries of sound:
Mild, as thy manners, do the colours rise,As soft and unobtrusive meet the view;And, when the varied notes the ear surprize,We own the harmony as strictly true.
Be thine the praise, alas! a gift how rare!Artless, and unpretending, to excel!Forget the envied charm of being fair,To learn the noblest science,--acting well!And let no world the seal of truth displace,Or spoil the heart's accordance with the face!
Hail! sweet Louisa! o'er these votive flow'rsFriendship and Fancy weave the joyful song,Wing with fresh rose-leaves all the train of hours,That in the distant aether float along!
Like those fair flowrets given by thy hand,Like thy own beauty, blooming and serene,The vision of thy future life is plann'd,And forms a clear, a bright, and varied scene!
That countenance so gentle, and so kind,That heart, which never gave a harsh decree,Suit all the turns of thy harmonious mind,And must, perforce, with destiny agree.This from the Sibyl's leaves affection drew,O, be the omen just! the promise true!
Words in this poem
- unobtrusive a.
- Not obtrusive; not presuming; modest.
- votive a.
- Given by vow, or in fulfillment of a vow; consecrated by a vow; devoted; as, votive offerings; a votive tablet. [L. votivus, fr. votum a vow: cf. F. votif. See Vow.]
- perforce v. t.
- To force; to compel.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Now the Right Hon. Lady St. John is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #9998; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Matilda Betham, Now the Right Hon. Lady St. John, in Poems (1808), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9998, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/betham-poems/now-the-right-hon-lady-st-john.html, id L23526.
Form and metre
Now the Right Hon. Lady St. John is 28 lines in 6 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 traceA · roundB · graceA · soundB
- 2 ABAB riseA · viewB · surprizeA · trueB
- 3 ABABCC rareA · excelB · fairA · wellB · displaceC · faceC
- 4 -A-A flow'rs · songA · hours · alongA
- 5 ABAB handA · sereneB · plann'dA · sceneB
- 6 ABABCC kindA · decreeB · mindA · agreeB · drewC · trueC
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Louisa, while thy pliant fingers trace | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘/˘· |
| The solemn beauties of the prospect round, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Or, on thy instrument, with touching grace, | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| Awaken all the witcheries of sound: | 9 | ˘/˘······ |
| Mild, as thy manners, do the colours rise, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| As soft and unobtrusive meet the view; | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| And, when the varied notes the ear surprize, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| We own the harmony as strictly true. | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| Be thine the praise, alas! a gift how rare! | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Artless, and unpretending, to excel! | 10 | /˘······˘/ |
| Forget the envied charm of being fair, | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/˘· |
| To learn the noblest science,--acting well! | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| And let no world the seal of truth displace, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Or spoil the heart's accordance with the face! | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Hail! sweet Louisa! o'er these votive flow'rs | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Friendship and Fancy weave the joyful song, | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Wing with fresh rose-leaves all the train of hours, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| That in the distant aether float along! | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Like those fair flowrets given by thy hand, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Like thy own beauty, blooming and serene, | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| The vision of thy future life is plann'd, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And forms a clear, a bright, and varied scene! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| That countenance so gentle, and so kind, | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| That heart, which never gave a harsh decree, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Suit all the turns of thy harmonious mind, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| And must, perforce, with destiny agree. | 10 | ··˘/·/˘˘˘/ |
| This from the Sibyl's leaves affection drew, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| O, be the omen just! the promise true! | 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.