Ronsard: Roses
I SEND you here a wreath of blossoms blown,And woven flowers at sunset gathered,Another dawn had seen them ruined, and shedLoose leaves upon the grass at random strown.By this, their sure example, be it known,That all your beauties, now in perfect flower,Shall fade as these, and wither in an hour,Flowerlike, and brief of days, as the flower sown.
Ah, time is flying, lady—time is flying;Nay, ’tis not time that flies but we that go,Who in short space shall be in churchyard lying,And of our loving parley none shall know,Nor any man consider what we were;Be therefore kind, my love, whiles thou art fair.
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,]
- churchyard n.
- The ground adjoining a church, in which the dead are buried; a cemetery.
- whiles conj.
- During the time that; while. Chaucer. Fuller.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ronsard: Roses 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: Roses, in Ballads and Lyrics of Old France (1872), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #795, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lang-old-france/roses.html, id L26895.
Form and metre
Ronsard: Roses is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 ABBAACCA blownA · gatheredB · shedB · strownA · knownA · flowerC · hourC · sownA
- 2 ABAB-- flyingA · goB · lyingA · knowB · were · fair
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I SEND you here a wreath of blossoms blown, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And woven flowers at sunset gathered, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·/·/˘ |
| Another dawn had seen them ruined, and shed | 11 | ˘/˘····/˘·· |
| Loose leaves upon the grass at random strown. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| By this, their sure example, be it known, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| That all your beauties, now in perfect flower, | 11 | ···/˘··/·/˘ |
| Shall fade as these, and wither in an hour, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Flowerlike, and brief of days, as the flower sown. | 11 | ·········/· |
| Ah, time is flying, lady—time is flying; | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Nay, ’tis not time that flies but we that go, | 10 | ·········· |
| Who in short space shall be in churchyard lying, | 11 | ·······/·/˘ |
| And of our loving parley none shall know, | 10 | ··//˘/˘··· |
| Nor any man consider what we were; | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Be therefore kind, my love, whiles thou art fair. | 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.