Ronsard: Of His Lady’s Old Age
WHEN you are very old, at eveningYou’ll sit and spin beside the fire, and say,Humming my songs, ‘Ah well, ah well-a-day!When I was young, of me did Ronsard sing.’None of your maidens that doth hear the thing,Albeit with her weary task foredone,But wakens at my name, and calls you oneBlest, to be held in long remembering.
I shall be low beneath the earth, and laidOn sleep, a phantom in the myrtle shade,While you beside the fire, a grandame grey,My love, your pride, remember and regret;Ah, love me, love! we may be happy yet,And gather roses, while ’tis called to-day.
Words in this poem
- albeit conj.
- Even though; although; notwithstanding. [OE. al be although it be, where al is our all. Cf. Although.]
- 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
Ronsard: Of His Lady’s Old Age is in the public domain. This text is taken from Ballads and Lyrics of Old France, with Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #795, the Andrew Lang translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Various, Ronsard: Of His Lady’s Old Age, in Ballads and Lyrics of Old France (1872), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #795, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lang-old-france/of-his-lady-s-old-age.html, id L26900.
Form and metre
Ronsard: Of His Lady’s Old Age is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 ABBAA--A eveningA · sayB · dayB · singA · thingA · foredone · one · rememberingA
- 2 AABCCB laidA · shadeA · greyB · regretC · yetC · dayB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| WHEN you are very old, at evening | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| You’ll sit and spin beside the fire, and say, | 10 | ····˘/·/·· |
| Humming my songs, ‘Ah well, ah well-a-day! | 10 | /˘········ |
| When I was young, of me did Ronsard sing.’ | 10 | ·········· |
| None of your maidens that doth hear the thing, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Albeit with her weary task foredone, | 11 | ˘/˘··/˘···· |
| But wakens at my name, and calls you one | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Blest, to be held in long remembering. | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| I shall be low beneath the earth, and laid | 10 | ·········· |
| On sleep, a phantom in the myrtle shade, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| While you beside the fire, a grandame grey, | 10 | ··˘/·/···· |
| My love, your pride, remember and regret; | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| Ah, love me, love! we may be happy yet, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And gather roses, while ’tis called to-day. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
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