The Ladies’ Answer
Blacke cypresse vailes are shroudes on night,White linnen railes are raies of light,Which though we to the girdles weare,We’ve hands to keep your hands off there.A fitter dresse we have in Lent,To shew us trewly penitent.Whoe makes the band to be a clokeMakes John-a-style of John-an-oake.We weare our garments to the feet,Yet neede not make our bandes a sheet:The clergie weare as long as we,Yet that implies conformitie.Be wise, recant what you have writt,Least you doe pennance for your witte;Love’s charm hath power to weare a stringe,To tye you as you tied your ringe;There by love’s sharpe but just decreeYou may be censured, we go free.
Words in this poem
- cypresse n.
- A rule for construing written instruments so as to conform as nearly to the intention of the parties as is consistent with law. [OF., nearly.]
- fitter n.
- A little piece; a flitter; a flinder.
- shew n.
- Show. [Obs. except in shewbread.]
- writt
- 3d pers. sing. pres. of Write, for writeth.
- witte v. t.
- To know; to learn. [OE. witen, pres. ich wot, wat, I know (wot), imp. wiste, AS. witan, pres. wat, imp. wiste, wisse; akin to OFries. wita, OS. witan, D. weten, G. wissen, OHG. wiz]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Ladies’ Answer 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, The Ladies’ Answer, in Poems (1647), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #65375, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/corbet-poems/the-ladies-answer.html, id L08917.
Form and metre
The Ladies’ Answer is 18 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 78% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 11% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AA--BBCCDDE-FFGGEE nightA · lightA · weare · there · lentB · penitentB · clokeC · oakeC · feetD · sheetD · weE · conformitie · writtF · witteF · stringeG · ringeG · decreeE · freeE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Blacke cypresse vailes are shroudes on night, | 8 | ········ |
| White linnen railes are raies of light, | 8 | ········ |
| Which though we to the girdles weare, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| We’ve hands to keep your hands off there. | 8 | ········ |
| A fitter dresse we have in Lent, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To shew us trewly penitent. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Whoe makes the band to be a cloke | 8 | ········ |
| Makes John-a-style of John-an-oake. | 8 | ········ |
| We weare our garments to the feet, | 8 | ··//˘··· |
| Yet neede not make our bandes a sheet: | 8 | ····/··· |
| The clergie weare as long as we, | 8 | ········ |
| Yet that implies conformitie. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Be wise, recant what you have writt, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Least you doe pennance for your witte; | 8 | ········ |
| Love’s charm hath power to weare a stringe, | 8 | ···/···· |
| To tye you as you tied your ringe; | 8 | ········ |
| There by love’s sharpe but just decree | 8 | ······˘/ |
| You may be censured, we go free. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
Notes from the edition 1
The notes to the Poems of Richard Corbet (Project Gutenberg #65375).
- Line 16 See the Life of the Bishop.
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.