The Baite
Come live with mee, and bee my love,And wee will some new pleasures proveOf golden sands, and christall brookes,With silken lines, and silver hookes.
There will the river whispering runneWarm'd by thy eyes, more then the Sunne.And there the'inamor'd fish will stay,Begging themselves they may betray.
When thou wilt swimme in that live bath,Each fish, which every channell hath,Will amorously to thee swimme,Gladder to catch thee, then thou him.
If thou, to be so seene, beest loath,By Sunne, or Moone, thou darknest both,And if my selfe have leave to see,I need not their light, having thee.
Let others freeze with angling reeds,And cut their legges, with shells and weeds,Or treacherously poore fish beset,With strangling snare, or windowie net:
Let coarse bold hands, from slimy nestThe bedded fish in banks out-wrest,Or curious traitors, sleavesilke fliesBewitch poore fishes wandring eyes.
For thee, thou needst no such deceit,For thou thy selfe art thine owne bait;That fish, that is not catch'd thereby,Alas, is wiser farre then I.
Compleate Angler: Fourth Day: Chap. XII.: Songs that were
Words in this poem
- swimme v. i.
- To be supported by water or other fluid; not to sink; to float; as, any substance will swim, whose specific gravity is less than that of the fluid in which it is immersed. [AS. swimman; akin to D. zwemmen, OHG. swimman, G. schwimmen, Icel. svimma, Dan. swömme, Sw. simma. Cf. Sound an air bladder, a strait.]
- channell n.
- The hollow bed where a stream of water runs or may run. [OE. chanel, canel, OF. chanel, F. chenel, fr. L. canalis. See Canal.]
- amorously adv.
- In an amorous manner; fondly.
- gladder n.
- One who makes glad.
- loath a.
- Hateful; odious; disliked. [OE. looth, loth, AS. la hostile, odious; akin to OS. l, G. leid, Icel. lei, Sw. led, G. leiden to suffer, OHG. lidan to suffer, go, cf. AS. li to go, Goth. leip]
- bedded a.
- Provided with a bed; as, double-bedded room; placed or arranged in a bed or beds.
- curious a.
- Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [OF. curios, curius, F. curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See Cure.]
- farre n.
- A young pig, or a litter of pigs. [See Farrow.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Baite is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of John Donne, Volume 1 (of 2) Edited from the Old Editions and Numerous Manuscripts, Project Gutenberg ebook #48688; 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 Donne, The Baite, in Poems (1633), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #48688, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/donne-poems/the-baite.html, id L04897.
Form and metre
The Baite is 29 lines in 8 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 5 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.4 syllables. 17% 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 AA-- loveA · proveA · brookes · hookes
- 2 AABB runneA · sunneA · stayB · betrayB
- 3 AABB bathA · hathA · swimmeB · himB
- 4 AABB loathA · bothA · seeB · theeB
- 5 AABB reedsA · weedsA · besetB · netB
- 6 AABB nestA · wrestA · fliesB · eyesB
- 7 --AA deceit · bait · therebyA · iA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Come live with mee, and bee my love, | 8 | ········ |
| And wee will some new pleasures prove | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of golden sands, and christall brookes, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| With silken lines, and silver hookes. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| There will the river whispering runne | 9 | ···/˘/˘˘· |
| Warm'd by thy eyes, more then the Sunne. | 8 | ········ |
| And there the'inamor'd fish will stay, | 8 | ········ |
| Begging themselves they may betray. | 8 | /˘˘/··˘/ |
| When thou wilt swimme in that live bath, | 8 | ········ |
| Each fish, which every channell hath, | 9 | ···/˘˘/˘· |
| Will amorously to thee swimme, | 8 | ·/˘˘˘··· |
| Gladder to catch thee, then thou him. | 8 | /˘······ |
| If thou, to be so seene, beest loath, | 8 | ········ |
| By Sunne, or Moone, thou darknest both, | 8 | ········ |
| And if my selfe have leave to see, | 8 | ········ |
| I need not their light, having thee. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Let others freeze with angling reeds, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And cut their legges, with shells and weeds, | 8 | ········ |
| Or treacherously poore fish beset, | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| With strangling snare, or windowie net: | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| Let coarse bold hands, from slimy nest | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The bedded fish in banks out-wrest, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Or curious traitors, sleavesilke flies | 10 | ·/˘˘/˘···· |
| Bewitch poore fishes wandring eyes. | 9 | ˘/·/˘/˘˘· |
| For thee, thou needst no such deceit, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| For thou thy selfe art thine owne bait; | 8 | ········ |
| That fish, that is not catch'd thereby, | 8 | ········ |
| Alas, is wiser farre then I. | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| Compleate Angler: Fourth Day: Chap. XII.: Songs that were | 11 | ··/˘······· |
Notes from the edition 14
Herbert Grierson's record of the readings of the early editions and manuscripts, from his Poems of John Donne (Oxford, 1912; Project Gutenberg #48688).
- Stanza 1, line 2 some new] all the P
- Stanza 1, line 3 brookes, Ed: brookes: 1633-69
- Stanza 2, line 1 whispering 1633: whispring 1635-69
- Stanza 2, line 2 thy] thine 1669, A18, N, TC
- Stanza 2, line 3 inamor'd] enamelled Walton
- Stanza 3, line 3 to] unto JC, O'F, P: to see N: Most amoroussly to thee will swim Walton
- Stanza 4, line 3 my selfe] mine eyes Walton: my heart A18, N, TC
- Stanza 5, line 2 with] which 1633
- Stanza 5, line 4 snare,] snares, Walton
- Stanza 6, line 4 To witch poor wandring fishes eyes. Walton
- Stanza 7, line 1 thou needst] there needs D, H49, Lec, S96
- Stanza 7, line 2 bait; Ed: bait, 1633-69
- Stanza 7, line 3 catch'd 1633-69: catch't Walton: caught P
- Stanza 7, line 4 Is wiser far, alas Walton
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