Borrill
Oh spightfull wayward wretched loue,Woe to Venus which did nurse thee,Heauens and earth thy plagues doe proue,Gods and men haue cause to curse thee.Thoughts griefe, hearts woe,Hopes paine, bodies languish,Enuies rage, sleepes foe,Fancies fraud, soules anguish,Desires dread, mindes madnes,Secrets bewrayer, natures error,Sights deceit, sullens sadnes,Speeches expence, Cupids terror,Malcontents melancholly,Liues slaughter, deaths nurse,Cares slaue, dotard's folly,Fortunes bayte, world's curse,Lookes theft, eyes blindnes,Selfes will, tongues treason,Paynes pleasure, wrongs kindnes,Furies frensie, follies reason:With cursing thee as I began,Neither God, neither man,Neither Fayrie, neither Feend.
Words in this poem
- wayward a.
- Taking one's own way; disobedient; froward; perverse; willful. [OE. weiward, for aweiward, i. e., turned away. See Away, and -ward.]
- languish v. i.
- To cause to dr Shak.
- bewrayer n.
- One who, or that which, bewrays; a revealer.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Borrill is in the public domain. This text is taken from Minor Poems of Michael Drayton, Project Gutenberg ebook #17873; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Michael Drayton, Borrill, in Minor Poems (1594–1619), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17873, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drayton-minor-poems/borrill.html, id L02768.
Form and metre
Borrill is 23 lines in a single stanza. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.3 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in trochaic trimeter.
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 ABABCDCDEFEFGHGHEIEIJJ- loueA · theeB · proueA · theeB · woeC · languishD · foeC · anguishD · madnesE · errorF · sadnesE · terrorF · melanchollyG · nurseH · follyG · curseH · blindnesE · treasonI · kindnesE · reasonI · beganJ · manJ · feend
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Oh spightfull wayward wretched loue, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Woe to Venus which did nurse thee, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Heauens and earth thy plagues doe proue, | 7 | ······· |
| Gods and men haue cause to curse thee. | 8 | ········ |
| Thoughts griefe, hearts woe, | 4 | ···· |
| Hopes paine, bodies languish, | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Enuies rage, sleepes foe, | 4 | ···· |
| Fancies fraud, soules anguish, | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Desires dread, mindes madnes, | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| Secrets bewrayer, natures error, | 9 | /˘˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| Sights deceit, sullens sadnes, | 6 | ·˘//˘· |
| Speeches expence, Cupids terror, | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| Malcontents melancholly, | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Liues slaughter, deaths nurse, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Cares slaue, dotard's folly, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Fortunes bayte, world's curse, | 5 | /˘··· |
| Lookes theft, eyes blindnes, | 4 | ···· |
| Selfes will, tongues treason, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Paynes pleasure, wrongs kindnes, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Furies frensie, follies reason: | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| With cursing thee as I began, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Neither God, neither man, | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| Neither Fayrie, neither Feend. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
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.