To Miss ****, on Her Playing upon the Harpsichord, in a Room Hung with Flower-Pieces of Her Own Painting
When Stella strikes the tuneful string,In scenes of imitated spring,Where beauty lavishes her pow'rsOn beds of never-fading flow'rs,And pleasure propagates aroundEach charm of modulated sound;Ah! think not, in the dang'rous hour,The nymph fictitious as the flow'r;But shun, rash youth, the gay alcove,Nor tempt the snares of wily love.When charms thus press on ev'ry sense,What thought of flight, or of defence?Deceitful hope, and vain desire,For ever flutter o'er her lyre,Delighting, as the youth draws nigh,To point the glances of her eye,And forming, with unerring art,New chains to hold the captive heart.But on those regions of delightMight truth intrude with daring flight,Could Stella, sprightly, fair, and young,One moment hear the moral song,Instruction, with her flowers, might spring,And wisdom warble from her string.Mark, when from thousand mingled diesThou seest one pleasing form arise,How active light, and thoughtful shadeIn greater scenes each other aid;Mark, when the different notes agreeIn friendly contrariety,How passion's well-accorded strifeGives all the harmony of life;Thy pictures shall thy conduct frame,Consistent still, though not the same;Thy musick teach the nobler art,To tune the regulated heart.
Words in this poem
- tuneful a.
- Harmonious; melodious; musical; as, tuneful notes.
- alcove n.
- A recessed portion of a room, or a small room opening into a larger one; especially, a recess to contain a bed; a lateral recess in a library. [F. alcôve, Sp. or Pg. alcoba, from Ar. al-quobbah arch, vault, tent.]
- defence n.
- The act of defending, or the state of being defended; protection, as from violence or danger. [F. défense, OF. defense, fem., defens, masc., fr. L. defensa (cf. Fence.]
- unerring a.
- Committing no mistake; incapable or error or failure certain; sure; unfailing; as, the unerring wisdom of God.
- warble v. t.
- To sing in a trilling, quavering, or vibratory manner; to modulate with turns or variations; to trill; as, certain birds are remarkable for warbling their songs. [OE. werbelen, OF. werbler; of Teutonic origin; cf. G. wirbeln to turn, to warble, D. wervelen, akin to E. whirl. See Whirl.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Miss ****, on Her Playing upon the Harpsichord, in a Room Hung with Flower-Pieces of Her Own Painting 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 Miss ****, on Her Playing upon the Harpsichord, in a Room Hung with Flower-Pieces of Her Own Painting, in Poems (1825), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10835, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-poems/to-miss-on-her-playing-upon-the-harpsichord-in-a-room-hung.html, id L27140.
Form and metre
To Miss ****, on Her Playing upon the Harpsichord, in a Room Hung with Flower-Pieces of Her Own Painting is 36 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 72% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 AABBCC----DD--EEFFGG--HHIIJJ--KKLLMM stringA · springA · pow'rsB · flow'rsB · aroundC · soundC · hour · flow'r · alcove · love · senseD · defenceD · desire · lyre · nighE · eyeE · artF · heartF · delightG · flightG · young · song · springH · stringH · diesI · ariseI · shadeJ · aidJ · agree · contrariety · strifeK · lifeK · frameL · sameL · artM · heartM
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When Stella strikes the tuneful string, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| In scenes of imitated spring, | 8 | ···/˘·˘· |
| Where beauty lavishes her pow'rs | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| On beds of never-fading flow'rs, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And pleasure propagates around | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Each charm of modulated sound; | 8 | ···/˘˘˘· |
| Ah! think not, in the dang'rous hour, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| The nymph fictitious as the flow'r; | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| But shun, rash youth, the gay alcove, | 8 | ······/· |
| Nor tempt the snares of wily love. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When charms thus press on ev'ry sense, | 8 | ········ |
| What thought of flight, or of defence? | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Deceitful hope, and vain desire, | 9 | ˘/˘···˘/˘ |
| For ever flutter o'er her lyre, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Delighting, as the youth draws nigh, | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| To point the glances of her eye, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And forming, with unerring art, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| New chains to hold the captive heart. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But on those regions of delight | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Might truth intrude with daring flight, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Could Stella, sprightly, fair, and young, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| One moment hear the moral song, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Instruction, with her flowers, might spring, | 8 | ˘/˘··/·· |
| And wisdom warble from her string. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Mark, when from thousand mingled dies | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Thou seest one pleasing form arise, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| How active light, and thoughtful shade | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| In greater scenes each other aid; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Mark, when the different notes agree | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| In friendly contrariety, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| How passion's well-accorded strife | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Gives all the harmony of life; | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Thy pictures shall thy conduct frame, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Consistent still, though not the same; | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| Thy musick teach the nobler art, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To tune the regulated heart. | 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.