Corbet’s Reply
Yff nought but love-charmes power haveYour blemisht creditt for to save;Then know your champion is blind,And that love-nottes are soon untwinde.But blemishes are now a grace,And add a lustre to your face;Your blemisht credit for to save,You needed not a vayle to have;The rayle for women may be fitte,Because they daylie practice ytt.And, seeing counsell can you not reforme,Read this reply—and take ytt not in scorne.
Words in this poem
- creditt n.
- Reliance on the truth of something said or done; belief; faith; trust; confidence. [F. cr (cf. It. credito), L. creditum loan, prop. neut. of creditus, p. p. of credere to trust, loan, believe. See Creed.]
- lustre n.
- A period of five years; a lustrum. [L. lustrum: cf. F. lustre.]
- fitte n.
- A stroke or blow. [AS. fit strife, fight; of uncertain origin. sq. root 77.]
- counsell n.
- Interchange of opinions; mutual advising; consultation. [OE. conc, F. conseil, fr. L. consilium, fr. the root of consulere to consult, of uncertain origin. Cf. Consult, Consul.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Corbet’s Reply is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Richard Corbet, late bishop of Oxford and of Norwich 4th edition, Project Gutenberg ebook #65375; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Richard Corbet, Corbet’s Reply, in Poems (1647), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #65375, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/corbet-poems/corbet-s-reply.html, id L08918.
Form and metre
Corbet’s Reply is 12 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.4 syllables. 8% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic 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 ABCCDDBA---- haveA · saveB · blindC · untwindeC · graceD · faceD · saveB · haveA · fitte · ytt · reforme · scorne
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Yff nought but love-charmes power have | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Your blemisht creditt for to save; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Then know your champion is blind, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| And that love-nottes are soon untwinde. | 8 | ········ |
| But blemishes are now a grace, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| And add a lustre to your face; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Your blemisht credit for to save, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| You needed not a vayle to have; | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| The rayle for women may be fitte, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Because they daylie practice ytt. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And, seeing counsell can you not reforme, | 9 | ·//˘····· |
| Read this reply—and take ytt not in scorne. | 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.