Sylva
TIMBER;OR,
There is hope of getting a fortune without digging in these quarries.Sed meliore (in omne) ingenio animoque quàm fortunâ, sum usus.
“Loquax magis, quàm facundus,Satis loquentiæ, sapientiæ parum.Γλωσσης τοι θησαυρος εν ανθρωποισιν αριστοςφειδωλης, πλειστη δε χαρις κατα μετρον ιουσης.Optimus est homini linguæ thesaurus, et ingensGratia, quæ parcis mensurat singula verbis.”
“Dum tacet indoctus, poterit cordatus haberi;Is morbos animi namque tacendo tegit.”
“—Comitetur Punica librumSpongia.—”
“They write a verse as smooth, as soft as cream,In which there is no torrent, nor scarce stream.”
“Dat veniam corvis, vexat censura columbas.”“Non rete accipitri tenditur, neque milvio.”
“Credas innare revulsasCycladas.”
Words in this poem
- thesaurus n.
- A treasury or storehouse; hence, a repository, especially of knowledge; -- often applied to a comprehensive work, like a dictionary or cyclopedia. [L. See Treasure.]
- tacet v.
- It is silent; -- a direction for a vocal or instrumental part to be silent during a whole movement. [L., it is silent, 3d pers.pr. of tacere to be silent.]
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- rete n.
- A net or network; a plexus; particularly, a network of blood vessels or nerves, or a part resembling a network. [L., a net.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sylva 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, Sylva, in Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter and Some Poems (1616), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5134, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/jonson-poems/sylva.html, id L23795.
Form and metre
Sylva is 20 lines in 8 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
See 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.
- 3 --AA-- facundus · parum · — · — · ingens · verbis
- 6 AA creamA · streamA
- 8 AA revulsasA · cycladasA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| TIMBER; | 2 | /˘ |
| OR, | 1 | · |
| There is hope of getting a fortune without digging in these quarries. | 17 | ····/˘·/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| Sed meliore (in omne) ingenio animoque quàm fortunâ, sum usus. | 17 | ················· |
| “Loquax magis, quàm facundus, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Satis loquentiæ, sapientiæ parum. | 10 | ·········· |
| Γλωσσης τοι θησαυρος εν ανθρωποισιν αριστος | 0 | |
| φειδωλης, πλειστη δε χαρις κατα μετρον ιουσης. | 0 | |
| Optimus est homini linguæ thesaurus, et ingens | 16 | ···˘/·····˘/˘··· |
| Gratia, quæ parcis mensurat singula verbis.” | 13 | ············· |
| “Dum tacet indoctus, poterit cordatus haberi; | 15 | ·/˘············ |
| Is morbos animi namque tacendo tegit.” | 12 | ············ |
| “—Comitetur Punica librum | 9 | ········· |
| Spongia.—” | 2 | ·· |
| “They write a verse as smooth, as soft as cream, | 10 | ·········· |
| In which there is no torrent, nor scarce stream.” | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| “Dat veniam corvis, vexat censura columbas.” | 13 | ···········/˘ |
| “Non rete accipitri tenditur, neque milvio.” | 13 | ·/˘·········· |
| “Credas innare revulsas | 7 | ······· |
| Cycladas.” | 3 | ··· |
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.