To a Young Gentleman
Dear boy, when you meet with a rose,Admire you the thorns very much?Or like you to play with a ball,When the handling it blisters your touch!
Yet should it be firm and compact,It is easy to polish it nice;If the rose is both pretty and sweet,The thorns will come off in a trice.
The thistle has still many more,As visible too in our eyes,But who will take pains with a weed,That nobody ever can prize?
'Tis what we deem precious and rare,We most earnestly seek to amend;And anxious attention and care,Is the costliest gift of a friend.
We all have our follies: what then?Let us note them, and never look bluff!Without any caressing at all,They will cling to us closely enough.
Weeds are of such obstinate growth,They elude the most diligent hand;And, if they were not to be check'd,Would quickly run over the land.
If some could be taken away,That hide part of your worth from the view;The conquest perhaps would be ours,But the profit is wholly to you.
Words in this poem
- admire v. t.
- To regard with wonder or astonishment; to view with surprise; to marvel at. [F. admirer, fr. L. admirari; ad + mirari to wonder, for smirari, akin to Gr. smi, and E. smile.]
- trice v. t.
- To pull; to haul; to drag; to pull away. [OE. trisen; of Scand. or Low German origin; cf. Sw. trissa a sheave, pulley, triss a spritsail brace, Dan. tridse a pulley, tridse to haul by means of a pulley,]
- nobody n.
- No person; no one; not anybody. [No, a. + body.]
- deem v. t.
- To decide; to judge; to sentence; to condemn. [OE. demen to judge, condemn, AS. d, fr. d doom; akin to OFries. d, OS. ad, D. doemen, OHG. tuommen, Icel. dæma, Sw. dömma, Dan. dömme, Goth. d. See Doom, n., an]
- bluff a.
- Having a broad, flattened front; as, the bluff bows of a ship. [Cf. OD. blaf flat, broad, blaffaert one with a broad face, also, a boaster; or G. verblüffen to confuse, LG. bluffen to frighten; to unknown origin.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To a Young Gentleman 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, To a Young Gentleman, in Poems (1808), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9998, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/betham-poems/to-a-young-gentleman.html, id L23515.
Form and metre
To a Young Gentleman is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is anapaestic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in anapaestic trimeter.
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 -A-A rose · muchA · ball · touchA
- 2 -A-A compact · niceA · sweet · triceA
- 3 -A-A more · eyesA · weed · prizeA
- 4 ABAB rareA · amendB · careA · friendB
- 5 -A-A then · bluffA · all · enoughA
- 6 -A-A growth · handA · check'd · landA
- 7 -A-A away · viewA · ours · youA
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Dear boy, when you meet with a rose, | 8 | ········ |
| Admire you the thorns very much? | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Or like you to play with a ball, | 8 | ········ |
| When the handling it blisters your touch! | 9 | ··/˘·/˘·· |
| Yet should it be firm and compact, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| It is easy to polish it nice; | 9 | ··/˘·/˘·· |
| If the rose is both pretty and sweet, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| The thorns will come off in a trice. | 8 | ········ |
| The thistle has still many more, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| As visible too in our eyes, | 8 | ·/˘˘··/· |
| But who will take pains with a weed, | 8 | ········ |
| That nobody ever can prize? | 8 | ·/··/˘·· |
| 'Tis what we deem precious and rare, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| We most earnestly seek to amend; | 8 | ··/˘··˘/ |
| And anxious attention and care, | 8 | ·/˘˘/˘·· |
| Is the costliest gift of a friend. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| We all have our follies: what then? | 8 | ···//˘·· |
| Let us note them, and never look bluff! | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Without any caressing at all, | 9 | ··/˘˘/˘·· |
| They will cling to us closely enough. | 9 | ·····/˘˘/ |
| Weeds are of such obstinate growth, | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| They elude the most diligent hand; | 8 | ·˘/··/˘· |
| And, if they were not to be check'd, | 8 | ········ |
| Would quickly run over the land. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| If some could be taken away, | 8 | ····/˘˘/ |
| That hide part of your worth from the view; | 9 | ········· |
| The conquest perhaps would be ours, | 9 | ·/˘˘/··/˘ |
| But the profit is wholly to you. | 9 | ··/˘·/˘·· |
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