To Phœbe
“GENTLE, modest little flower,Sweet epitome of May,Love me but for half an hour,Love me, love me, little fay.”Sentences so fiercely flamingIn your tiny shell-like ear,I should always be exclaimingIf I loved you, PHŒBE dear.
“Smiles that thrill from any distanceShed upon me while I sing!Please ecstaticize existence,Love me, oh, thou fairy thing!”Words like these, outpouring sadlyYou’d perpetually hear,If I loved you fondly, madly;—But I do not, PHŒBE dear.
Words in this poem
- sadly adv.
- Wearily; heavily; firmly.
- perpetually adv.
- In a perpetual manner; constantly; continually.
- fondly adv.
- Foolishly. Verstegan (1673).
- madly adv.
- In a mad manner; without reason or understanding; wildly. [From Mad, a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Phœbe is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Bab Ballads, Project Gutenberg ebook #931; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: W. S. Gilbert, To Phœbe, in The Bab Ballads (1869), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #931, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/gilbert-bab-ballads/to-ph-be.html, id L02383.
Form and metre
To Phœbe is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDCD. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.4 syllables. 8 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 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 ABABCDCD flowerA · mayB · hourA · fayB · flamingC · earD · exclaimingC · dearD
- 2 ABABCDCD distanceA · singB · existenceA · thingB · sadlyC · hearD · madlyC · dearD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “GENTLE, modest little flower, | 8 | /˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| Sweet epitome of May, | 7 | ·˘/˘˘·· |
| Love me but for half an hour, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Love me, love me, little fay.” | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Sentences so fiercely flaming | 8 | /˘˘·/˘/˘ |
| In your tiny shell-like ear, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| I should always be exclaiming | 8 | ··/··˘/˘ |
| If I loved you, PHŒBE dear. | 7 | ···˘··· |
| “Smiles that thrill from any distance | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Shed upon me while I sing! | 7 | ······· |
| Please ecstaticize existence, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Love me, oh, thou fairy thing!” | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Words like these, outpouring sadly | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| You’d perpetually hear, | 7 | ·˘/˘˘˘· |
| If I loved you fondly, madly;— | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| But I do not, PHŒBE dear. | 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.