Love
Foolish love is only folly;Wanton love is too unholy;Greedy love is covetous;Idle love is frivolous;But the gracious love is itThat doth prove the work of it.
Beauty but deceives the eye;Flattery leads the ear awry;Wealth doth but enchant the wit;Want, the overthrow of it;While in Wisdom's worthy grace,Virtue sees the sweetest face.
There hath Love found out his life,Peace without all thought of strife;Kindness in Discretion's care;Truth, that clearly doth declareFaith doth in true fancy prove,Lust the excrements of Love.
Then in faith may fancy seeHow my love may constru'd be;How it grows and what it seeks;How it lives and what it likes;So in highest grace regard it,Or in lowest scorn discard it.
Words in this poem
- unholy a.
- Not holy; unhallowed; not consecrated; hence, profane; wicked; impious.
- covetous a.
- Very desirous; eager to obtain; -- used in a good sense. [OF. coveitos, F. convoiteux. See Covet, v. t.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- enchant v. t.
- To charm by sorcery; to act on by enchantment; to get control of by magical words and rites. [F. enchanter, L. incantare to chant or utter a magic formula over or against one, to bewitch; in in, against + cantare to sing. See Chant, and cf. Incantation.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- lust v. i.
- To list; to like. [AS. lystan. See Lust, n., and cf. List to choose.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Love 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, Love, in Pastoral Poems and Selected Poetry (1597–1604), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22001, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/breton-poems/love.html, id L08836.
Form and metre
Love is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABBCC, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 --AABB folly · unholy · covetousA · frivolousA · itB · itB
- 2 AABBCC eyeA · awryA · witB · itB · graceC · faceC
- 3 AABBCC lifeA · strifeA · careB · declareB · proveC · loveC
- 4 AA--BB seeA · beA · seeks · likes · itB · itB
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Foolish love is only folly; | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| Wanton love is too unholy; | 8 | /˘···˘/˘ |
| Greedy love is covetous; | 7 | /˘··/˘˘ |
| Idle love is frivolous; | 7 | /˘··/˘˘ |
| But the gracious love is it | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| That doth prove the work of it. | 7 | ······· |
| Beauty but deceives the eye; | 7 | /˘·˘/·· |
| Flattery leads the ear awry; | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| Wealth doth but enchant the wit; | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Want, the overthrow of it; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| While in Wisdom's worthy grace, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Virtue sees the sweetest face. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| There hath Love found out his life, | 7 | ······· |
| Peace without all thought of strife; | 7 | ······· |
| Kindness in Discretion's care; | 7 | /˘·˘/˘· |
| Truth, that clearly doth declare | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Faith doth in true fancy prove, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Lust the excrements of Love. | 7 | ··/˘˘·· |
| Then in faith may fancy see | 7 | ····/˘· |
| How my love may constru'd be; | 7 | ····˘/· |
| How it grows and what it seeks; | 7 | ······· |
| How it lives and what it likes; | 7 | ······· |
| So in highest grace regard it, | 8 | ··/˘·˘/· |
| Or in lowest scorn discard it. | 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.