A Pastoral Dialogue
Dorinda. Sabæan Perfumes fragrant Roses bring,With all the Flowers that Paint the gaudy Spring:Scatter them all in young Alexis's way,With all that's sweet and (like himself) that's Gay.
Alexis. Immortal Laurels and as Lasting Praise,Crown the Divine Dorinda's matchless Laies:May all Hearts stoop, where mine would gladly yield,Had not Lycoris prepossest the Field.
Dor. Would my Alexis meet my noble Flame,In all Ausonia neither Youth nor Dame,Should so renown'd in Deathless Numbers shine,As thy exalted Name should do in mine.
Alex. He'll need no Trophie nor ambitious Hearse,Who shall be honour'd by Dorinda's Verse;But where it is inscrib'd, That here doth lieLycoris's Love. That Fame can never die.
Dor. On Tyber's Bank I Thyrsis did espie,And by his side did bright Lycoris lie;She Crown'd his Head, and Kist his amorous Brow,Ah Poor Alexis! Ah then where wer't thou?
Alex. When thou saw'st that, I ne'r had seen my Fair,And what pass'd then ought not to be my Care;I liv'd not then, but first began to be,When I Lycoris Lov'd, and she Lov'd me.
Dor. Ah choose a Faith, a Faith that's like thine own,A Virgin Love, a Love that's newly blown:'Tis not enough a Maidens Heart is chast,It must be Single, and not once mis-plac't.
Alex. Thus do our Priests of Heavenly Pastures tell,Eternal Groves, all Earthly, that excel:And think to wean us from our Loves below,By dazling Objects which we cannot know.
Words in this poem
- gladly adv.
- Preferably; by choice. [From Glad, a.]
- dame n.
- A mistress of a family, who is a lady; a womam in authority; especially, a lady. [F. dame, LL. domna, fr. L. domina mistress, lady, fem. of dominus master, ruler, lord; akin to domare to tame, subdue. See Tame, and cf. Dam mother, Dan, Danger]
- deathless a.
- Not subject to death, destruction, or extinction; immortal; undying; imperishable; as, deathless beings; deathless fame.
- 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,]
- kist n.
- A chest; hence, a coffin. Jamieson. [See Chest.]
- ought p. p.
- Was or were under obligation to pay; owed. [Orig. the preterit of the verb to owe. OE. oughte, aughte, ahte, AS. ahte. sq. root110. See Owe.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Pastoral Dialogue is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems (1686), Project Gutenberg ebook #41076; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Anne Killigrew, A Pastoral Dialogue, in Poems (1686) (1686), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #41076, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/killigrew-poems/a-pastoral-dialogue.html, id L09191.
Form and metre
A Pastoral Dialogue is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.4 syllables.
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 AABB bringA · springA · wayB · gayB
- 2 AABB praiseA · laiesA · yieldB · fieldB
- 3 AABB flameA · dameA · shineB · mineB
- 4 AABB hearseA · verseA · lieB · dieB
- 5 AABB espieA · lieA · browB · thouB
- 6 AABB fairA · careA · beB · meB
- 7 AABB ownA · blownA · chastB · plac'tB
- 8 AABB tellA · excelA · belowB · knowB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Dorinda. Sabæan Perfumes fragrant Roses bring, | 12 | ˘/˘/˘˘//˘/˘· |
| With all the Flowers that Paint the gaudy Spring: | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| Scatter them all in young Alexis's way, | 10 | /˘····˘/˘· |
| With all that's sweet and (like himself) that's Gay. | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Alexis. Immortal Laurels and as Lasting Praise, | 13 | ˘/˘˘/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Crown the Divine Dorinda's matchless Laies: | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| May all Hearts stoop, where mine would gladly yield, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Had not Lycoris prepossest the Field. | 10 | ·········· |
| Dor. Would my Alexis meet my noble Flame, | 11 | ···˘/˘··/˘· |
| In all Ausonia neither Youth nor Dame, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Should so renown'd in Deathless Numbers shine, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/˘· |
| As thy exalted Name should do in mine. | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Alex. He'll need no Trophie nor ambitious Hearse, | 12 | /˘······˘/˘· |
| Who shall be honour'd by Dorinda's Verse; | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| But where it is inscrib'd, That here doth lie | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Lycoris's Love. That Fame can never die. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Dor. On Tyber's Bank I Thyrsis did espie, | 11 | ··········· |
| And by his side did bright Lycoris lie; | 10 | ·········· |
| She Crown'd his Head, and Kist his amorous Brow, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Ah Poor Alexis! Ah then where wer't thou? | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Alex. When thou saw'st that, I ne'r had seen my Fair, | 12 | /˘·········· |
| And what pass'd then ought not to be my Care; | 10 | ·········· |
| I liv'd not then, but first began to be, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| When I Lycoris Lov'd, and she Lov'd me. | 10 | ·········· |
| Dor. Ah choose a Faith, a Faith that's like thine own, | 11 | ··········· |
| A Virgin Love, a Love that's newly blown: | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| 'Tis not enough a Maidens Heart is chast, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| It must be Single, and not once mis-plac't. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Alex. Thus do our Priests of Heavenly Pastures tell, | 12 | /˘··/··/˘/˘· |
| Eternal Groves, all Earthly, that excel: | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| And think to wean us from our Loves below, | 10 | ······/··· |
| By dazling Objects which we cannot know. | 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.