To Venus
Oh! leave thine own loved isle,Bright Queen of Cyprus and the Paphian shores!And here in Glycera’s fair temple smile,Where vows and incense lavishly she pours.
Waft here thy glowing son;Bring Hermes; let the Nymphs thy path surround,And youth, unlovely till thy gifts be won,And the light Graces with the zone unbound.
Words in this poem
- isle v. t.
- To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
- cyprus n.
- A thin, transparent stuff, the same as, or corresponding to, crape. It was either white or black, the latter being most common, and used for mourning. [OE. cipres, cypirs; perh. so named as being first manufactured in Cyprus. Cf. Cipers.]
- paphian a.
- Of or pertaining to Paphos, an ancient city of Cyprus, having a celebrated temple of Venus; hence, pertaining to Venus, or her rites.
- lavishly adv.
- In a lavish manner.
- waft v. t.
- To give notice to by waving something; to wave the hand to; to beckon. [Prob. originally imp. & p. p. of wave, v. t. See Wave to waver.]
- unlovely a.
- Not lovely; not amiable; possessing qualities that excite dislike; disagreeable; displeasing; unpleasant.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Venus is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Felicia Hemans, Project Gutenberg ebook #66785; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Felicia Hemans, To Venus, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/to-venus.html, id L19319.
Form and metre
To Venus is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 isleA · shoresB · smileA · poursB
- 2 ABAB sonA · surroundB · wonA · unboundB
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Oh! leave thine own loved isle, | 6 | ······ |
| Bright Queen of Cyprus and the Paphian shores! | 11 | ···/˘··/˘˘· |
| And here in Glycera’s fair temple smile, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Where vows and incense lavishly she pours. | 10 | ···/·/˘˘·· |
| Waft here thy glowing son; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Bring Hermes; let the Nymphs thy path surround, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| And youth, unlovely till thy gifts be won, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| And the light Graces with the zone unbound. | 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.