The Cussed Damozel
A lover sate aloneAll by the Golden Gate,And made exceedynge moanWhiles he hys Love didde wait.
To him One coming prayedWhy he didde weepe. Said he,“I weepe me for a maidWho cometh notte to mee.”
“Alas! I waite likewiseMy Love these many years;Meseems ’t would save our eyesIf we should pool our tears.”
And so they weeped full soreA twelvemonth and a daye,Till they could weepe no more,For notte a tear hadde they.
Whenas they came to seeThey could not weepe alway,Each of hys Faire Ladyee’Gan sing a rondelay.
“My Love hath golden hair,”Sang one, “and like the wineThe red lips of my Fair.”The other sang, “So’s mine.”
“My Love is wondrous wise,”Sang one, “and wondrous fineAnd wondrous dark her eyes.”The other sang, “So’s mine.”
“My Love is wondrous proud,And her name is Geraldyne.”“Thou liest!” shrieked aloudThe other. “She is mine!”
“She plighted ere I diedEternal troth to me.”“Good lack,” the other cried,“E’en so she plighted me!”
“Beside my bier she sworeShe would be true to me,For aye and evermore,Unto eternityee.”
The twain didde then agree,In their most grievous plight,To fly to earth and seeThe which of them was right.
Alack and well-a-daye!A-well-a-daye alack!Eft soons they flew away,Eft sooners flew they back.
For when they had come thereThey were not fain to stay,To Geraldyne the FaireHer silver weddyng daye.
Words in this poem
- sate v. t.
- To satisfy the desire or appetite of; to satiate; to glut; to surfeit. [Probably shortened fr. satiate: cf. L. satus full. See Satiate.]
- whiles conj.
- During the time that; while. Chaucer. Fuller.
- notte
- Wot not; know not; knows not. [Contr. from ne wot. See 2d Note.]
- meseems v.
- It seems to me.
- twelvemonth n.
- A year which consists of twelve calendar months.
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- aloud adv.
- With a loud voice, or great noise; loudly; audibly. [Pref. a- + loud.]
- troth n.
- Belief; faith; fidelity. [A variant of truth. See Truth.]
- bier n.
- A handbarrow or portable frame on which a corpse is placed or borne to the grave. [OE. bæe, beere, AS. b, b; akin to D. baar, OHG. bara, G. bahre, Icel barar, Dbaare, L. feretrum, Gr. , from the same bear to produce. See 1st Bear, and cf. Barr]
- evermore adv.
- During eternity; always; forever; for an indefinite period; at all times; -- often used substantively with for.
- twain a.
- Two;- nearly obsolete in common discourse, but used in poetry and burlesque. [OE. twein, tweien, tweyne, AS. twegen, masc. See Two.]
- plight v. t.
- To weave; to braid; to fold; to plait. [OE. pliten; probably through Old French, fr. LL. plectare, L. plectere. See Plait, Ply.]
- alack interj.
- An exclamation expressive of sorrow. [Prob. from ah! lack! OE. lak loss, failure, misfortune. See Lack.]
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Cussed Damozel is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Bashful Earthquake, & Other Fables and Verses, Project Gutenberg ebook #56765; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Oliver Herford, The Cussed Damozel, in The Bashful Earthquake, and Other Fables and Verses (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56765, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herford-bashful-earthquake/the-cussed-damozel.html, id L22124.
Form and metre
The Cussed Damozel is 52 lines in 13 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is short measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in short 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 aloneA · gateB · moanA · waitB
- 2 ABAB prayedA · heB · maidA · meeB
- 3 ABAB likewiseA · yearsB · eyesA · tearsB
- 4 ABAB soreA · dayeB · moreA · theyB
- 5 ABAB seeA · alwayB · ladyeeA · rondelayB
- 6 ABAB hairA · wineB · fairA · mineB
- 7 ABAB wiseA · fineB · eyesA · mineB
- 8 ABAB proudA · geraldyneB · aloudA · mineB
- 9 ABAB diedA · meB · criedA · meB
- 10 ABAB sworeA · meB · evermoreA · eternityeeB
- 11 ABAB agreeA · plightB · seeA · rightB
- 12 ABAB dayeA · alackB · awayA · backB
- 13 ABAB thereA · stayB · faireA · dayeB
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 short measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| A lover sate alone | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| All by the Golden Gate, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And made exceedynge moan | 6 | ······ |
| Whiles he hys Love didde wait. | 6 | ······ |
| To him One coming prayed | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Why he didde weepe. Said he, | 6 | ······ |
| “I weepe me for a maid | 6 | ······ |
| Who cometh notte to mee.” | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| “Alas! I waite likewise | 6 | ˘/··/· |
| My Love these many years; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Meseems ’t would save our eyes | 7 | ˘/···/· |
| If we should pool our tears.” | 6 | ····/· |
| And so they weeped full sore | 6 | ······ |
| A twelvemonth and a daye, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Till they could weepe no more, | 6 | ······ |
| For notte a tear hadde they. | 6 | ······ |
| Whenas they came to see | 6 | /˘···· |
| They could not weepe alway, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Each of hys Faire Ladyee | 6 | ······ |
| ’Gan sing a rondelay. | 6 | ······ |
| “My Love hath golden hair,” | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Sang one, “and like the wine | 6 | ······ |
| The red lips of my Fair.” | 6 | ······ |
| The other sang, “So’s mine.” | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| “My Love is wondrous wise,” | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Sang one, “and wondrous fine | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And wondrous dark her eyes.” | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The other sang, “So’s mine.” | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| “My Love is wondrous proud, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And her name is Geraldyne.” | 7 | ······· |
| “Thou liest!” shrieked aloud | 6 | ···˘˘/ |
| The other. “She is mine!” | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| “She plighted ere I died | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Eternal troth to me.” | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| “Good lack,” the other cried, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| “E’en so she plighted me!” | 6 | ···/˘· |
| “Beside my bier she swore | 6 | ˘/···· |
| She would be true to me, | 6 | ······ |
| For aye and evermore, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Unto eternityee.” | 6 | ······ |
| The twain didde then agree, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| In their most grievous plight, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| To fly to earth and see | 6 | ······ |
| The which of them was right. | 6 | ······ |
| Alack and well-a-daye! | 6 | ˘/···· |
| A-well-a-daye alack! | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Eft soons they flew away, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Eft sooners flew they back. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| For when they had come there | 6 | ······ |
| They were not fain to stay, | 6 | ······ |
| To Geraldyne the Faire | 6 | ······ |
| Her silver weddyng daye. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
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