Venus in Arden
Now Love, her mantle thrown,Goes naked by,Threading the woods alone,Her royal eyeHappy because the primroses againBreak on the winter continence of men.
I saw her pass to-dayIn Warwickshire,With the old imperial way,The old desire,Fresh as among those other flowers they wentMore beautiful for Adon’s discontent.
Those other years she madeHer festivalWhen the blue eggs were laidAnd lambs were tall,By the Athenian rivers while the reedsMade love melodious for the Ganymedes.
And now through Cantlow brakes,By Wilmcote hill,To Avon-side, she makesHer garlands still,And I who watch her flashing limbs am oneWith youth whose days three thousand years are done.
Words in this poem
- continence n.
- Self-restraint; self-command. [F. continence, L. continentia. See Continent, and cf. Countenance.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Venus in Arden is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, 1908-1919, Project Gutenberg ebook #51575; 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 Drinkwater, Venus in Arden, in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/venus-in-arden.html, id L23105.
Form and metre
Venus in Arden is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter.
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 ABABCC thrownA · byB · aloneA · eyeB · againC · menC
- 2 A-A-BB dayA · warwickshire · wayA · desire · wentB · discontentB
- 3 ABABCC madeA · festivalB · laidA · tallB · reedsC · ganymedesC
- 4 ABABCC brakesA · hillB · makesA · stillB · oneC · doneC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Now Love, her mantle thrown, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Goes naked by, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Threading the woods alone, | 6 | /˘··˘/ |
| Her royal eye | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Happy because the primroses again | 10 | /˘···/·˘˘/ |
| Break on the winter continence of men. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| I saw her pass to-day | 6 | ······ |
| In Warwickshire, | 4 | ···· |
| With the old imperial way, | 8 | ···˘/˘˘· |
| The old desire, | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| Fresh as among those other flowers they went | 10 | ·····/˘/·· |
| More beautiful for Adon’s discontent. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘/ |
| Those other years she made | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Her festival | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| When the blue eggs were laid | 6 | ······ |
| And lambs were tall, | 4 | ···· |
| By the Athenian rivers while the reeds | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Made love melodious for the Ganymedes. | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| And now through Cantlow brakes, | 6 | ······ |
| By Wilmcote hill, | 4 | ···· |
| To Avon-side, she makes | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Her garlands still, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And I who watch her flashing limbs am one | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| With youth whose days three thousand years are done. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
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.