The Stand
Jonson, who sung this of him, ere he went,Himself to rest,Or taste a part of that full joy he meantTo have expressed,In this bright Asterism!Where it were friendship’s schism,Were not his Lucius long with us to tarry,To separate these twi-Lights, the Dioscouri;And keep the one half from his Harry,But fate doth so alternate the designWhilst that in heaven, this light on earth must shine.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- harry v. i.
- To make a predatory incursion; to plunder or lay waste.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Stand 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, The Stand, in Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter and Some Poems (1616), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5134, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/jonson-poems/the-stand-3.html, id L23817.
Form and metre
The Stand is 12 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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.
- 1 ABABCCD--DEE wentA · restB · meantA · expressedB · asterismC · schismC · tarryD · twi · dioscouri · harryD · designE · shineE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Jonson, who sung this of him, ere he went, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Himself to rest, | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Or taste a part of that full joy he meant | 10 | ·········· |
| To have expressed, | 4 | ··˘/ |
| In this bright Asterism! | 6 | ······ |
| Where it were friendship’s schism, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Were not his Lucius long with us to tarry, | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| To separate these twi- | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Lights, the Dioscouri; | 5 | ····· |
| And keep the one half from his Harry, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| But fate doth so alternate the design | 10 | ····/˘˘·˘/ |
| Whilst that in heaven, this light on earth must shine. | 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.