Ronsard: To the Moon
HIDE this one night thy crescent, kindly Moon;So shall Endymion faithful prove, and restLoving and unawakened on thy breast;So shall no foul enchanter importuneThy quiet course; for now the night is boon,And through the friendly night unseen I fare,Who dread the face of foemen unaware,And watch of hostile spies in the bright noon.Thou knowest, Moon, the bitter power of Love;’Tis told how shepherd Pan found ways to move,For little price, thy heart; and of your grace,Sweet stars, be kind to this not alien fire,Because on earth ye did not scorn desire,Bethink ye, now ye hold your heavenly place.
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,]
- enchanter n.
- One who enchants; a sorcerer or magician; also, one who delights as by an enchantment. [Cf. F. enchanteur.]
- importune a.
- Inopportune; unseasonable. [F. importun, L. importunus; pref. im- not + a derivative from the root of portus harbor, importunus therefore orig. meaning, hard of access. See Port harbor, an]
- boon n.
- A prayer or petition. [OE. bone, boin, a petition, fr. Icel. b; akin to Sw. & Dan. b, AS. b, and perh. to E. ban; but influenced by F. bon good, fr. L. bonus. Ban, Bounty.]
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- unaware a.
- Not aware; not noticing; giving no heed; thoughtless; inattentive.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ronsard: To the Moon 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 the Moon, in Ballads and Lyrics of Old France (1872), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #795, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lang-old-france/to-the-moon.html, id L26897.
Form and metre
Ronsard: To the Moon is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 ABB-ACCADDEFFE moonA · restB · breastB · importune · boonA · fareC · unawareC · noonA · loveD · moveD · graceE · fireF · desireF · placeE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| HIDE this one night thy crescent, kindly Moon; | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| So shall Endymion faithful prove, and rest | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Loving and unawakened on thy breast; | 10 | /˘········ |
| So shall no foul enchanter importune | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Thy quiet course; for now the night is boon, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And through the friendly night unseen I fare, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Who dread the face of foemen unaware, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And watch of hostile spies in the bright noon. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Thou knowest, Moon, the bitter power of Love; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/·· |
| ’Tis told how shepherd Pan found ways to move, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| For little price, thy heart; and of your grace, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Sweet stars, be kind to this not alien fire, | 10 | ·······/˘/ |
| Because on earth ye did not scorn desire, | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| Bethink ye, now ye hold your heavenly place. | 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.