Flowers
The daisy scatter'd on each mead and down,A golden tuft within a silver crown;(Fair fall that dainty flower! and may there beNo shepherd grac'd that doth not honour thee!)The primrose, when with six leaves gotten graceMaids as a true-love in their bosoms place;The spotless lily, by whose pure leaves beNoted the chaste thoughts of virginity;Carnations sweet with colour like the fire,The fit impresas for inflam'd desire;The harebell for her stainless azur'd hueClaims to be worn of none but those are true;The rose, like ready youth, enticing stands,And would be cropp'd if it might choose the hands,The yellow kingcup Flora them assign'dTo be the badges of a jealous mind;The orange-tawny marigold: the nightHides not her colour from a searching sight....The columbine in tawny often taken,Is then ascrib'd to such as are forsaken;Flora's choice buttons of a russet dyeIs hope even in the depth of misery.
Words in this poem
- dainty n.
- Value; estimation; the gratification or pleasure taken in anything. [OE. deinie, dainte, deintie, deyntee, OF. deintié delicacy, orig., dignity, honor, fr. L. dignitas, fr. dignus worthy. See Deign, and cf. Dignity.]
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- harebell n.
- A small, slender, branching plant (Campanula rotundifolia), having blue bell-shaped flowers; also, Scilla nutans, which has similar flowers; -- called also bluebell.
- stainless a.
- Free from stain; immaculate.
- kingcup n.
- The common buttercup.
- flora n.
- The goddess of flowers and spring. [L., the goddess of flowers, from flos, floris, flower. See Flower.]
- columbine a.
- Of or pertaining to a dove; dovelike; dove-colored. [L. columbinus, fr. columba dove.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Flowers is in the public domain. This text is taken from Pastoral Poems by Nicholas Breton, Selected Poetry by George Wither, and Pastoral Poetry by William Browne (of Tavistock), Project Gutenberg ebook #22001; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Nicholas Breton, Flowers, in Pastoral Poems and Selected Poetry (1597–1604), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22001, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/breton-poems/flowers.html, id L08856.
Form and metre
Flowers is 22 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 82% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 32% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 AABBCCB-DDEEFFGGHHII-- downA · crownA · beB · theeB · graceC · placeC · beB · virginity · fireD · desireD · hueE · trueE · standsF · handsF · assign'dG · mindG · nightH · sightH · takenI · forsakenI · dye · misery
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The daisy scatter'd on each mead and down, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| A golden tuft within a silver crown; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| (Fair fall that dainty flower! and may there be | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| No shepherd grac'd that doth not honour thee!) | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| The primrose, when with six leaves gotten grace | 10 | ·/·····/˘· |
| Maids as a true-love in their bosoms place; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The spotless lily, by whose pure leaves be | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Noted the chaste thoughts of virginity; | 10 | /˘····˘/˘˘ |
| Carnations sweet with colour like the fire, | 11 | ˘/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| The fit impresas for inflam'd desire; | 11 | ······˘/˘/˘ |
| The harebell for her stainless azur'd hue | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Claims to be worn of none but those are true; | 10 | ·········· |
| The rose, like ready youth, enticing stands, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| And would be cropp'd if it might choose the hands, | 10 | ·········· |
| The yellow kingcup Flora them assign'd | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| To be the badges of a jealous mind; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The orange-tawny marigold: the night | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Hides not her colour from a searching sight.... | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The columbine in tawny often taken, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Is then ascrib'd to such as are forsaken; | 11 | ··˘/····˘/˘ |
| Flora's choice buttons of a russet dye | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Is hope even in the depth of misery. | 11 | ··/˘····/˘˘ |
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.