To Worldly Joys
Farewel ye Unsubstantial Joyes,Ye Gilded Nothings, Gaudy Toyes,Too long ye have my Soul misled,Too long with Aiery Diet fed:But now my Heart ye shall no moreDeceive, as you have heretofore:For when I hear such Sirens sing,Like Ithacas's fore-warned King,With prudent Resolution IWill so my Will and Fancy tye,That stronger to the Mast not he,Than I to Reason bound will be:And though your Witchcrafts strike my Ear,Unhurt, like him, your Charms I'll hear.
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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Worldly Joys 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, To Worldly Joys, in Poems (1686) (1686), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #41076, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/killigrew-poems/to-worldly-joys.html, id L09197.
Form and metre
To Worldly Joys is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGG joyesA · toyesA · misledB · fedB · moreC · heretoforeC · singD · kingD · iE · tyeE · heF · beF · earG · hearG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Farewel ye Unsubstantial Joyes, | 9 | ········· |
| Ye Gilded Nothings, Gaudy Toyes, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Too long ye have my Soul misled, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Too long with Aiery Diet fed: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But now my Heart ye shall no more | 8 | ········ |
| Deceive, as you have heretofore: | 8 | ˘/····˘/ |
| For when I hear such Sirens sing, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Like Ithacas's fore-warned King, | 8 | ······˘· |
| With prudent Resolution I | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Will so my Will and Fancy tye, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That stronger to the Mast not he, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Than I to Reason bound will be: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And though your Witchcrafts strike my Ear, | 8 | ···/···· |
| Unhurt, like him, your Charms I'll hear. | 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.