The Stand
And such a force the fair example had,As they that sawThe good, and durst not practise it, were gladThat such a lawWas left yet to mankind;Where they might read and findFriendship, indeed, was written not in words;And with the heart, not pen,Of two so early men,Whose lines her rolls were, and records;Who, ere the first down bloomed upon the chin,Had sowed these fruits, and got the harvest in.
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-4.html, id L23820.
Form and metre
The Stand is 12 lines in a single stanza. 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.
- 1 ABABCC-DD-EE hadA · sawB · gladA · lawB · mankindC · findC · words · penD · menD · records · chinE · inE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| And such a force the fair example had, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| As they that saw | 4 | ···· |
| The good, and durst not practise it, were glad | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| That such a law | 4 | ···· |
| Was left yet to mankind; | 6 | ····// |
| Where they might read and find | 6 | ······ |
| Friendship, indeed, was written not in words; | 10 | /˘˘/·/˘··· |
| And with the heart, not pen, | 6 | ······ |
| Of two so early men, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Whose lines her rolls were, and records; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Who, ere the first down bloomed upon the chin, | 10 | ·········· |
| Had sowed these fruits, and got the harvest in. | 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.