To a Friend
No more thus brooding o'er yon heap,With av'rice, painful vigils keep;Still unenjoy'd the present store,Still endless sighs are breath'd for more.Oh! quit the shadow, catch the prize,Which not all India's treasure buys!To purchase heav'n has gold the power?Can gold remove the mortal hour?In life, can love be bought with gold?Are friendship's pleasures to be sold?No--all that's worth a wish--a thought,Fair virtue gives unbrib'd, unbought.Cease then on trash thy hopes to bind,Let nobler views engage thy mind.With science tread the wondrous way,Or learn the muses' moral lay;In social hours indulge thy soul,Where mirth and temp'rance mix the bowl;To virtuous love resign thy breast,And be, by blessing beauty--blest.Thus taste the feast, by nature spread,Ere youth, and all its joys are fled;Come, taste with me the balm of life,Secure from pomp, and wealth, and strife.I boast whate'er for man was meant,In health, and Stella, and content;And scorn! oh! let that scorn be thine!Mere things of clay that dig the mine.
Words in this poem
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- virtuous a.
- Possessing or exhibiting virtue. Specifically: -- (a) Exhibiting manly courage and strength; valorous; valiant; brave. [OE. vertuous, OF. vertuos, vertuous, F. vertueux, fr. L. Virtuous. See Virtue, and cf. Virtuoso.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To a Friend 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, To a Friend, in Poems (1825), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10835, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-poems/to-a-friend.html, id L27143.
Form and metre
To a Friend is 28 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLLMMNN heapA · keepA · storeB · moreB · prizeC · buysC · powerD · hourD · goldE · soldE · thoughtF · unboughtF · bindG · mindG · wayH · layH · soulI · bowlI · breastJ · blestJ · spreadK · fledK · lifeL · strifeL · meantM · contentM · thineN · mineN
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 |
|---|---|---|
| No more thus brooding o'er yon heap, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With av'rice, painful vigils keep; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Still unenjoy'd the present store, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Still endless sighs are breath'd for more. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Oh! quit the shadow, catch the prize, | 8 | ···/···· |
| Which not all India's treasure buys! | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| To purchase heav'n has gold the power? | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Can gold remove the mortal hour? | 9 | ··˘/·/˘/˘ |
| In life, can love be bought with gold? | 8 | ········ |
| Are friendship's pleasures to be sold? | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| No--all that's worth a wish--a thought, | 8 | ········ |
| Fair virtue gives unbrib'd, unbought. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Cease then on trash thy hopes to bind, | 8 | ········ |
| Let nobler views engage thy mind. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| With science tread the wondrous way, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Or learn the muses' moral lay; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| In social hours indulge thy soul, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/·· |
| Where mirth and temp'rance mix the bowl; | 8 | ········ |
| To virtuous love resign thy breast, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| And be, by blessing beauty--blest. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Thus taste the feast, by nature spread, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Ere youth, and all its joys are fled; | 8 | ········ |
| Come, taste with me the balm of life, | 8 | ········ |
| Secure from pomp, and wealth, and strife. | 8 | ˘/······ |
| I boast whate'er for man was meant, | 9 | ··˘˘/···· |
| In health, and Stella, and content; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| And scorn! oh! let that scorn be thine! | 8 | ········ |
| Mere things of clay that dig the mine. | 8 | ········ |
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.