Set to Music by Mr. Voight
What do I love? A polish'd mind,A temper cheerful, meek, and kind;A graceful air, unsway'd by art,A voice that sinks into the heart,A playful and benignant smile--Alas! my heart responds the while,All this, my Emily, is true,But I love more in loving you!
I love those roses when they rise,From joy, from anger, or surprise;I love the kind, attentive zeal,So prompt to know what others feel,The mildness which can ne'er reprove,But in the sweetest tones of love--All this, my Emily, is true,But I love more in loving you!
The self-command which can sustain,In silence, weariness and pain;The transport at a friend's success,Which has not words or power to bless,But, by a sudden, starting tear,Appears more precious, more sincere--All this, my Emily, is true,And this I love in loving you!
Words in this poem
- benignant a.
- Kind; gracious; favorable. [LL. benignans, p. pr. of benignare, from L. benignus. See Benign.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Set to Music by Mr. Voight 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. Voight, in Poems (1808), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9998, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/betham-poems/set-to-music-by-mr-voight.html, id L23518.
Form and metre
Set to Music by Mr. Voight is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABBCCDD, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 AABBCCDD mindA · kindA · artB · heartB · smileC · whileC · trueD · youD
- 2 AABB--CC riseA · surpriseA · zealB · feelB · reprove · love · trueC · youC
- 3 AABBCCDD sustainA · painA · successB · blessB · tearC · sincereC · trueD · youD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| What do I love? A polish'd mind, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A temper cheerful, meek, and kind; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| A graceful air, unsway'd by art, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| A voice that sinks into the heart, | 8 | ········ |
| A playful and benignant smile-- | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Alas! my heart responds the while, | 8 | ˘/··˘/·· |
| All this, my Emily, is true, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| But I love more in loving you! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I love those roses when they rise, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| From joy, from anger, or surprise; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| I love the kind, attentive zeal, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| So prompt to know what others feel, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The mildness which can ne'er reprove, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| But in the sweetest tones of love-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| All this, my Emily, is true, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| But I love more in loving you! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The self-command which can sustain, | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| In silence, weariness and pain; | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| The transport at a friend's success, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Which has not words or power to bless, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| But, by a sudden, starting tear, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Appears more precious, more sincere-- | 8 | ˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| All this, my Emily, is true, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| And this I love in loving you! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
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.