From Louise Labe, 1555
When to my lone soft bed at eve returningSweet desir'd sleep already stealeth o'er me,My spirit flīeth to the fairy-land ofher tyrannous love.
Him then I think fondly to kiss, to hold himFrankly then to my bosom; I that all dayHave lookèd forvhim suffering, repining,yea many long days.
O blessèd sleep, with flatteries beguile me;So,vif I ne'er mayvof a surety havevhim,Grant to my poor soul amorous the dark giftof this illusion.
Words in this poem
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- tyrannous a.
- Tyrannical; arbitrary; unjustly severe; despotic. Sir P.
- fondly adv.
- Foolishly. Verstegan (1673).
- frankly adv.
- In a frank manner; freely.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
From Louise Labe, 1555 is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Robert Bridges, Excluding the Eight Dramas, Project Gutenberg ebook #37804; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Bridges, From Louise Labe, 1555, in The Growth of Love, and Other Poems (1873–1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #37804, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bridges-shorter-poems/from-louise-labe-1555.html, id L01848.
Form and metre
From Louise Labe, 1555 is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 75%). 82% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 42% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 --AA returning · me · ofA · loveA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When to my lone soft bed at eve returning | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| Sweet desir'd sleep already stealeth o'er me, | 11 | ·˘/·˘/˘/˘·· |
| My spirit flīeth to the fairy-land of | 10 | ·/˘···/˘·· |
| her tyrannous love. | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| Him then I think fondly to kiss, to hold him | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| Frankly then to my bosom; I that all day | 11 | /˘···/˘···· |
| Have lookèd forvhim suffering, repining, | 10 | ····/˘˘··· |
| yea many long days. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| O blessèd sleep, with flatteries beguile me; | 10 | ····/˘˘˘/· |
| So,vif I ne'er mayvof a surety havevhim, | 12 | ·······/˘··· |
| Grant to my poor soul amorous the dark gift | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| of this illusion. | 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.