Paraphrase of Proverbs, Chap. VI. Verses 6 to 11
Turn on the prudent ant thy heedful eyes,Observe her labours, sluggard, and be wise:No stern command, no monitory voice,Prescribes her duties, or directs her choice;Yet, timely provident, she hastes away,To snatch the blessings of the plenteous day;When fruitful summer loads the teeming plain,She crops the harvest, and she stores the grain.How long shall sloth usurp thy useless hours,Unnerve thy vigour, and enchain thy pow'rs;While artful shades thy downy couch inclose,And soft solicitation courts repose?Amidst the drowsy charms of dull delight,Year chases year with unremitted flight,Till want now following, fraudulent and slow,Shall spring to seize thee like an ambush'd foe.
Words in this poem
- sluggard n.
- A person habitually lazy, idle, and inactive; a drone. [Slug + -ard.]
- monitory a.
- Giving admonition; instructing by way of caution; warning. [L. monitorius.]
- teeming a.
- Prolific; productive.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- unnerve v. t.
- To deprive of nerve, force, or strength; to weaken; to enfeeble; as, to unnerve the arm. [1st pref. un- + nerve.]
- vigour v. t.
- To invigorate. Feltham.
- enchain v. t.
- To bind with a chain; to hold in chains. [F. enchaîner; pref. en- (L. in) chaîne chain. See Chain, and cf. Incatenation.]
- artful a.
- Performed with, or characterized by, art or skill. [From Art.]
- amidst prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Paraphrase of Proverbs, Chap. VI. Verses 6 to 11 is in the public domain. This text is taken from Dr. Johnson's Works: Life, Poems, and Tales, Volume 1 (The Works of Samuel Johnson in Nine Volumes, 1825), Project Gutenberg ebook #10835; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Samuel Johnson, Paraphrase of Proverbs, Chap. VI. Verses 6 to 11, in Poems (1825), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10835, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-poems/paraphrase-of-proverbs-chap-vi-verses-6-to-11.html, id L27153.
Form and metre
Paraphrase of Proverbs, Chap. VI. Verses 6 to 11 is 16 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 88% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AABBCCDDE-EEFFGG eyesA · wiseA · voiceB · choiceB · awayC · dayC · plainD · grainD · hoursE · pow'rs · incloseE · reposeE · delightF · flightF · slowG · foeG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Turn on the prudent ant thy heedful eyes, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Observe her labours, sluggard, and be wise: | 10 | ˘/·/˘/˘··· |
| No stern command, no monitory voice, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘˘˘· |
| Prescribes her duties, or directs her choice; | 10 | ˘/·/˘·˘/·· |
| Yet, timely provident, she hastes away, | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘··˘/ |
| To snatch the blessings of the plenteous day; | 11 | ···/˘··/˘˘· |
| When fruitful summer loads the teeming plain, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| She crops the harvest, and she stores the grain. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| How long shall sloth usurp thy useless hours, | 11 | ·····/·/˘/˘ |
| Unnerve thy vigour, and enchain thy pow'rs; | 10 | ˘/·/˘·˘/·· |
| While artful shades thy downy couch inclose, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| And soft solicitation courts repose? | 10 | ··˘·˘/˘·˘/ |
| Amidst the drowsy charms of dull delight, | 10 | ˘/·/˘···˘/ |
| Year chases year with unremitted flight, | 10 | ·/˘··˘˘/˘· |
| Till want now following, fraudulent and slow, | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| Shall spring to seize thee like an ambush'd foe. | 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.