Ronsard: To His Young Mistress
FAIR flower of fifteen springs, that stillArt scarcely blossomed from the bud,Yet hast such store of evil will,A heart so full of hardihood,Seeking to hide in friendly wiseThe mischief of your mocking eyes.
If you have pity, child, give o’er;Give back the heart you stole from me,Pirate, setting so little storeOn this your captive from Love’s sea,Holding his misery for gain,And making pleasure of his pain.
Another, not so fair of face,But far more pitiful than you,Would take my heart, if of his grace,My heart would give her of Love’s due;And she shall have it, since I findThat you are cruel and unkind.
Nay, I would rather that it died,Within your white hands prisoning,Would rather that it still abideIn your ungentle comforting.Than change its faith, and seek to herThat is more kind, but not so fair.
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- hardihood n.
- Boldness, united with firmness and constancy of mind; bravery; intrepidity; also, audaciousness; impudence. [Hardy + -hood.]
- stole n.
- A long, loose garment reaching to the feet. [AS. stole, L. stola, Gr. stall. See Stall.]
- 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,]
- unkind a.
- Having no race or kindred; childless. [See Kin kindred.]
- ungentle a.
- Not gentle; lacking good breeding or delicacy; harsh.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ronsard: To His Young Mistress 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: To His Young Mistress, in Ballads and Lyrics of Old France (1872), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #795, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lang-old-france/to-his-young-mistress.html, id L26898.
Form and metre
Ronsard: To His Young Mistress is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
See 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 A-A-BB stillA · bud · willA · hardihood · wiseB · eyesB
- 2 -A-ABB o'er · meA · store · seaA · gainB · painB
- 3 ABABCC faceA · youB · graceA · dueB · findC · unkindC
- 4 A-A--- diedA · prisoning · abideA · comforting · her · 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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| FAIR flower of fifteen springs, that still | 8 | ·/·˘/··· |
| Art scarcely blossomed from the bud, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Yet hast such store of evil will, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A heart so full of hardihood, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Seeking to hide in friendly wise | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| The mischief of your mocking eyes. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| If you have pity, child, give o’er; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Give back the heart you stole from me, | 8 | ········ |
| Pirate, setting so little store | 8 | /˘/˘·/˘· |
| On this your captive from Love’s sea, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Holding his misery for gain, | 8 | /˘·/˘˘·· |
| And making pleasure of his pain. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Another, not so fair of face, | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| But far more pitiful than you, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Would take my heart, if of his grace, | 8 | ········ |
| My heart would give her of Love’s due; | 8 | ········ |
| And she shall have it, since I find | 8 | ········ |
| That you are cruel and unkind. | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Nay, I would rather that it died, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Within your white hands prisoning, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Would rather that it still abide | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| In your ungentle comforting. | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Than change its faith, and seek to her | 8 | ········ |
| That is more kind, but not so fair. | 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.