Set to Music by Mr. A. Pettit, of Norwich
Once more then farewell! and whilst I'm away,Oh! let not another entangle thy fancy!I shall think upon thee every hour of the day,And let not my love be forgotten by Nancy!
Oh! were I forsaken, the flow'r in my heart,Would fold all its leaves, and re-open them never!The sunshine of joy and of hope would depart,And belief in affection would perish for ever!
To talk thus is folly! I doubt not thy truth,A few years of absence will quickly pass over,I scorn other perils that menace my youth,From that wound, I must own, I could never recover!
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,]
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Set to Music by Mr. A. Pettit, of Norwich 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, Set to Music by Mr. A. Pettit, of Norwich, in Poems (1808), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9998, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/betham-poems/set-to-music-by-mr-a-pettit-of-norwich.html, id L23521.
Form and metre
Set to Music by Mr. A. Pettit, of Norwich is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See other poems in anapaestic 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 ABAB awayA · fancyB · dayA · nancyB
- 2 ABAB heartA · neverB · departA · everB
- 3 A-A- truthA · over · youthA · recover
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Once more then farewell! and whilst I'm away, | 10 | ····/···˘/ |
| Oh! let not another entangle thy fancy! | 12 | ···˘/˘˘/˘·/˘ |
| I shall think upon thee every hour of the day, | 12 | ······/˘/··· |
| And let not my love be forgotten by Nancy! | 12 | ······˘/˘·/˘ |
| Oh! were I forsaken, the flow'r in my heart, | 11 | ···˘/˘····· |
| Would fold all its leaves, and re-open them never! | 11 | ·······/˘·/ |
| The sunshine of joy and of hope would depart, | 11 | ·/·······˘/ |
| And belief in affection would perish for ever! | 12 | ·˘/·˘/˘·/˘·/ |
| To talk thus is folly! I doubt not thy truth, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| A few years of absence will quickly pass over, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| I scorn other perils that menace my youth, | 11 | ··/˘/˘·/˘·· |
| From that wound, I must own, I could never recover! | 12 | ········/˘/˘ |
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.