To a Lady with a Withered Violet
Though fate upon this faded flowerHis withering hand has laid,Its odour'd breath defies his power,Its sweets are undecayed.
And thus, although thy warbled strainsNo longer wildly thrill,The memory of the song remains,Its soul is with me still.
Words in this poem
- withering a.
- Tending to wither; causing to shrink or fade.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To a Lady with a Withered Violet is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Culprit Fay, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #317; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Joseph Rodman Drake, To a Lady with a Withered Violet, in The Culprit Fay and Other Poems (1819), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #317, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drake-culprit-fay/to-a-lady-with-a-withered-violet.html, id L10290.
Form and metre
To a Lady with a Withered Violet is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 87% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.5 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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 ABAB flowerA · laidB · powerA · undecayedB
- 2 ABAB strainsA · thrillB · remainsA · stillB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Though fate upon this faded flower | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| His withering hand has laid, | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| Its odour'd breath defies his power, | 9 | ····˘/·/˘ |
| Its sweets are undecayed. | 5 | ····· |
| And thus, although thy warbled strains | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| No longer wildly thrill, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| The memory of the song remains, | 9 | ·/˘˘···˘/ |
| Its soul is with me still. | 6 | ······ |
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.