Book IV: Metre IV
Why should we strive to die so many ways,And slay ourselves with our own hands?If we seek death, she ready stands,She willing comes, her chariot never stays.Those against whom the wild beasts arméd be,Against themselves with weapons rage.Do they such wars unjustly wage,Because their lives and manners disagree,And so themselves with mutual weapons kill?Alas, but this revenge is small.Wouldst thou give due desert to all?Love then the good, and pity thou the ill."
Words in this poem
- wage v. i.
- To bind one's self; to engage.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book IV: Metre IV is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Consolation of Philosophy, Project Gutenberg ebook #13316, the I.T. (1609), rev. H. F. Stewart translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Boethius, Book IV: Metre IV, in The Consolation of Philosophy (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13316, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/boethius-consolation/book-iv-metre-iv.html, id L26406.
Form and metre
Book IV: Metre IV is 12 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 ABBACDDCEFFE waysA · handsB · standsB · staysA · beC · rageD · wageD · disagreeC · killE · smallF · allF · illE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Why should we strive to die so many ways, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And slay ourselves with our own hands? | 10 | ··˘˘/·/˘·· |
| If we seek death, she ready stands, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| She willing comes, her chariot never stays. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘/· |
| Those against whom the wild beasts arméd be, | 9 | ········· |
| Against themselves with weapons rage. | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Do they such wars unjustly wage, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Because their lives and manners disagree, | 10 | ·····/˘˘˘/ |
| And so themselves with mutual weapons kill? | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/˘· |
| Alas, but this revenge is small. | 8 | ˘/··˘/·· |
| Wouldst thou give due desert to all? | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Love then the good, and pity thou the ill." | 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.