Piers
Thomalin, 'tis not too late,For the turtle and her mateSitten yet in nest:And the thrustle hath not beenGath'ring worms yet on the green,But attends her rest.Not a bird hath taught her young,Nor her morning's lesson sungIn the shady grove:But the nightingale in darkSinging woke the mounting lark:She records her love.Not the sun hath with his beamsGilded yet our crystal streams;Rising from the sea,Mists do crown the mountains' tops,And each pretty myrtle drops:'Tis but newly day.
Words in this poem
- thrustle n.
- The throstle, or song thrust.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Piers 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, Piers, in Pastoral Poems and Selected Poetry (1597–1604), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22001, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/breton-poems/piers.html, id L08865.
Form and metre
Piers is 18 lines in a single stanza. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.3 syllables. 28% 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 AAB--BCC-DD-EE-FF- lateA · mateA · nestB · been · green · restB · youngC · sungC · grove · darkD · larkD · love · beamsE · streamsE · sea · topsF · dropsF · day
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thomalin, 'tis not too late, | 7 | ······· |
| For the turtle and her mate | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Sitten yet in nest: | 5 | /˘··· |
| And the thrustle hath not been | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Gath'ring worms yet on the green, | 7 | ······· |
| But attends her rest. | 5 | ·˘/·· |
| Not a bird hath taught her young, | 7 | ······· |
| Nor her morning's lesson sung | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| In the shady grove: | 5 | ··/˘· |
| But the nightingale in dark | 7 | ··/˘˘·· |
| Singing woke the mounting lark: | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| She records her love. | 5 | ·˘/·· |
| Not the sun hath with his beams | 7 | ······· |
| Gilded yet our crystal streams; | 7 | /˘·//˘· |
| Rising from the sea, | 5 | /˘··· |
| Mists do crown the mountains' tops, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And each pretty myrtle drops: | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| 'Tis but newly day. | 5 | ··/˘· |
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.