Song
Thrice lovely babe! thus hush'd to rest,Upon thy warrior father's breast!Avails it, that his eyes behold,Thy rosy cheeks, thy locks of gold!Avails it that he bends his ear,So fondly thy soft breath to hear!Or, that his rising smiles confess,A gracious gleam of tenderness!The sweetest spell will scarce have pow'rTo hold him for one absent hour!
Some plant that ceases thus to share,A daily friend's auspicious care,Relaxes in its feeble grasp,The flow'ry tendrils soon unclasp,Loose in the heedless aether play,And every idle breeze obey!Thus vainly had I sought to bind;Thus watch'd that light, forgetful mind,Till smiles and sunshine could restore,My often-blighted hopes no more!
Words in this poem
- babe n.
- An infant; a young child of either sex; a baby. [Cf. Ir. bab, baban, W. baban, maban.]
- fondly adv.
- Foolishly. Verstegan (1673).
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- unclasp v. t.
- To loose the clasp of; to open, as something that is fastened, or as with, a clasp; as, to unclasp a book; to unclasp one's heart. [1st pref. un- + clasp.]
- forgetful a.
- Apt to forget; easily losing remembrance; as, a forgetful man should use helps to strengthen his memory.
- 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.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Song 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, Song, in Poems (1808), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9998, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/betham-poems/song.html, id L23517.
Form and metre
Song is 20 lines in 2 stanzas of 10 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
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-- restA · breastA · beholdB · goldB · earC · hearC · confessD · tendernessD · pow'r · hour
- 2 AABBCCDDEE shareA · careA · graspB · unclaspB · playC · obeyC · bindD · mindD · restoreE · moreE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thrice lovely babe! thus hush'd to rest, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Upon thy warrior father's breast! | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Avails it, that his eyes behold, | 8 | ˘/····˘/ |
| Thy rosy cheeks, thy locks of gold! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Avails it that he bends his ear, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| So fondly thy soft breath to hear! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Or, that his rising smiles confess, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| A gracious gleam of tenderness! | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| The sweetest spell will scarce have pow'r | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To hold him for one absent hour! | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Some plant that ceases thus to share, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A daily friend's auspicious care, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Relaxes in its feeble grasp, | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| The flow'ry tendrils soon unclasp, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Loose in the heedless aether play, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And every idle breeze obey! | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Thus vainly had I sought to bind; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Thus watch'd that light, forgetful mind, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Till smiles and sunshine could restore, | 8 | ···/··˘/ |
| My often-blighted hopes no more! | 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.