Carmen VI: To Flavius: Mis-Speaking His Mistress
Thy Charmer (Flavius!) to Catullus' earWere she not manner'd mean and worst in witPerforce thou hadst praised nor couldst silence keep.But some enfevered jade, I wot-not-what,Some piece thou lovest, blushing this to own.For, nowise 'customed widower nights to lieThou 'rt ever summoned by no silent bedWith flow'r-wreaths fragrant and with Syrian oil,By mattress, bolsters, here, there, everywhereDeep-dinted, and by quaking, shaking couchAll crepitation and mobility.Explain! none whoredoms (no!) shall close my lips.Why? such outfuttered flank thou ne'er wouldst showHad not some fulsome work by thee been wrought.Then what thou holdest, boon or bane be pleasedDisclose! For thee and thy beloved fain would IUpraise to Heaven with my liveliest lay.
Words in this poem
- charmer n.
- One who charms, or has power to charm; one who uses the power of enchantment; a magician. Deut. xviii. 11.
- perforce v. t.
- To force; to compel.
- nowise adv.
- Not in any manner or degree; in no way; noways. [For in no wise. See Wise, n.]
- widower n.
- A man who has lost his wife by death, and has not married again.
- mattress n.
- A quilted bed; a bed stuffed with hair, moss, or other suitable material, and quilted or otherwise fastened. [OF. materas, F. matelas, LL. matratium; cf. Sp. & Pg. almadraque, Pr. almatrac; all from Ar. matsrah a place where anything is thrown, what is thrown under some]
- crepitation n.
- The act of crepitating or crackling. [Cf. F. crépitation.]
- mobility n.
- The quality or state of being mobile; as, the mobility of a liquid, of an army, of the populace, of features, of a muscle. Sir T. [L. mobilitas: cf. F. mobilité.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- fulsome a.
- Full; abundant; plenteous; not shriveled. [Full, a. + -some.]
- boon n.
- A prayer or petition. [OE. bone, boin, a petition, fr. Icel. b; akin to Sw. & Dan. b, AS. b, and perh. to E. ban; but influenced by F. bon good, fr. L. bonus. Ban, Bounty.]
- bane v. t.
- To be the bane of; to ruin. Fuller.
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- upraise v. t.
- To raise; to lift up.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Carmen VI: To Flavius: Mis-Speaking His Mistress is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Carmina, Project Gutenberg ebook #20732, the Richard Burton 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: Catullus, Carmen VI: To Flavius: Mis-Speaking His Mistress, in The Carmina (1894), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #20732, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/catullus-carmina/carmen-vi-to-flavius-mis-speaking-his-mistress.html, id L13789.
Form and metre
Carmen VI: To Flavius: Mis-Speaking His Mistress is 17 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 53% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter, other poems in blank verse.
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 -----A---------A- ear · wit · keep · what · own · lieA · bed · oil · everywhere · couch · mobility · lips · show · wrought · pleased · iA · lay
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thy Charmer (Flavius!) to Catullus' ear | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Were she not manner'd mean and worst in wit | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Perforce thou hadst praised nor couldst silence keep. | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| But some enfevered jade, I wot-not-what, | 10 | ·········· |
| Some piece thou lovest, blushing this to own. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| For, nowise 'customed widower nights to lie | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Thou 'rt ever summoned by no silent bed | 10 | ··//˘··/˘· |
| With flow'r-wreaths fragrant and with Syrian oil, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| By mattress, bolsters, here, there, everywhere | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Deep-dinted, and by quaking, shaking couch | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| All crepitation and mobility. | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| Explain! none whoredoms (no!) shall close my lips. | 11 | ˘/········· |
| Why? such outfuttered flank thou ne'er wouldst show | 10 | ·········· |
| Had not some fulsome work by thee been wrought. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Then what thou holdest, boon or bane be pleased | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Disclose! For thee and thy beloved fain would I | 11 | ˘/····˘/··· |
| Upraise to Heaven with my liveliest lay. | 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.