To the Moneth of September
$E$ ach moneth hath praise in some degree;$L$ et May to others seeme to be$I$ n sense the sweetest Season;$S$ eptember thou art best to me,$A$ nd best dost please my reason.
$B$ ut neither for thy corne nor wine$E$ xtoll I those mild dayes of thine,$T$ hough corne and wine might praise thee;$H$ eauen giues thee honour more diuine,$A$ nd higher fortunes raise thee.
$R$ enown'd art thou (sweet moneth) for this,$E$ mong thy dayes her birth-day is;$G$ race, plenty, peace and honour$I$ n one faire hour with her were borne;$N$ ow since they still her crowne adorne,$A$ nd still attend vpon her.
Words in this poem
- hough n.
- An adz; a hoe. Bp. Stillingfleet. [Cf. D. hak. Cf. Hack.]
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To the Moneth of September is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poems of Sir John Davies. Volume 1 of 2., Project Gutenberg ebook #44977; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Davies, To the Moneth of September, in The Complete Poems, Volume I (1596–1599), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #44977, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/davies-poems/to-the-moneth-of-september.html, id L08804.
Form and metre
To the Moneth of September is 16 lines in 3 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABAB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.6 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% 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 AABAB degreeA · beA · seasonB · meA · reasonB
- 2 AABAB wineA · thineA · theeB · diuineA · theeB
- 3 ---AA- this · is · honour · borneA · adorneA · her
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 |
|---|---|---|
| $E$ ach moneth hath praise in some degree; | 10 | ··/˘····˘/ |
| $L$ et May to others seeme to be | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| $I$ n sense the sweetest Season; | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| $S$ eptember thou art best to me, | 9 | ········· |
| $A$ nd best dost please my reason. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| $B$ ut neither for thy corne nor wine | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| $E$ xtoll I those mild dayes of thine, | 8 | ········ |
| $T$ hough corne and wine might praise thee; | 8 | ········ |
| $H$ eauen giues thee honour more diuine, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| $A$ nd higher fortunes raise thee. | 8 | ··/˘/˘·· |
| $R$ enown'd art thou (sweet moneth) for this, | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| $E$ mong thy dayes her birth-day is; | 8 | ········ |
| $G$ race, plenty, peace and honour | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| $I$ n one faire hour with her were borne; | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| $N$ ow since they still her crowne adorne, | 9 | ········· |
| $A$ nd still attend vpon her. | 7 | ···˘/·· |
Notes from the edition 1
A. B. Grosart's notes to the Complete Poems of Sir John Davies (Project Gutenberg #44977).
- Stanza 3, line 2 Queen Elizabeth was born on 7th September, 1533. G.
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.