In the Person of Womankind. A Song Apologetic
MEN, if you love us, play no moreThe fools or tyrants with your friends,To make us still sing o’er and o’erOur own false praises, for your ends:We have both wits and fancies too,And, if we must, let’s sing of you.
Nor do we doubt but that we can,If we would search with care and pain,Find some one good in some one man;So going thorough all your strain,We shall, at last, of parcels makeOne good enough for a song’s sake.
And as a cunning painter takes,In any curious piece you see,More pleasure while the thing he makes,Than when ’tis made—why so will we.And having pleased our art, we’ll tryTo make a new, and hang that by.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- curious a.
- Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [OF. curios, curius, F. curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See Cure.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In the Person of Womankind. A Song Apologetic is in the public domain. This text is taken from Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter and Some Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #5134; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ben Jonson, In the Person of Womankind. A Song Apologetic, in Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter and Some Poems (1616), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5134, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/jonson-poems/in-the-person-of-womankind-a-song-apologetic.html, id L23808.
Form and metre
In the Person of Womankind. A Song Apologetic is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See 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 -A-ABB more · friendsA · o'er · endsA · tooB · youB
- 2 ABABCC canA · painB · manA · strainB · makeC · sakeC
- 3 ABABCC takesA · seeB · makesA · weB · tryC · byC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| MEN, if you love us, play no more | 8 | ········ |
| The fools or tyrants with your friends, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To make us still sing o’er and o’er | 8 | ········ |
| Our own false praises, for your ends: | 8 | /··/˘··· |
| We have both wits and fancies too, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And, if we must, let’s sing of you. | 8 | ········ |
| Nor do we doubt but that we can, | 8 | ········ |
| If we would search with care and pain, | 8 | ········ |
| Find some one good in some one man; | 8 | ········ |
| So going thorough all your strain, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| We shall, at last, of parcels make | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| One good enough for a song’s sake. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| And as a cunning painter takes, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| In any curious piece you see, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| More pleasure while the thing he makes, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Than when ’tis made—why so will we. | 8 | ········ |
| And having pleased our art, we’ll try | 8 | ·/˘·/··· |
| To make a new, and hang that by. | 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.