Against the Love of Great Ones
Vnhappy youth, betrayd by FateTo such a love hath sainted hate,And damned those celestiall bandsAre onely knit with equal hands;The love of great ones is a love,Gods are incapable to prove:For where there is a joy uneven,There never, never can be Heav'n:'Tis such a love as is not sentTo fiends as yet for punishment;IXION willingly doth feeleThe gyre of his eternal wheele,Nor would he now exchange his paineFor cloudes and goddesses againe.
Wouldst thou with tempests lye? Then bowTo th' rougher furrows of her brow,Or make a thunder-bolt thy choyce?Then catch at her more fatal voyce;Or 'gender with the lightning? tryeThe subtler flashes of her eye:Poore SEMELE wel knew the same,Who both imbrac't her God and flame;And not alone in soule did burne,But in this love did ashes turne.
How il doth majesty injoyThe bow and gaity oth' boy,As if the purple-roabe should sit,And sentence give ith' chayr of wit.
Say, ever-dying wretch, to whomEach answer is a certaine doom,What is it that you would possesse,The Countes, or the naked Besse?Would you her gowne or title do?Her box or gem, the thing or show?If you meane HER, the very HER,Abstracted from her caracter,Unhappy boy! you may as sooneWith fawning wanton with the Moone,Or with an amorous complaintGet prostitute your very saint;Not that we are not mortal, orFly VENUS altars, and abhorThe selfesame knack, for which you pine;But we (defend us!) are divine,From a right-honourable wombe.Shal we then mingle with the base,And bring a silver-tinsell race?Whilst th' issue noble wil not passeThe gold alloyd (almost halfe brasse),And th' blood in each veine doth appeare,Part thick Booreinn, part Lady Cleare;Like to the sordid insects sprungFrom Father Sun and Mother Dung:Yet lose we not the hold we have,But faster graspe the trembling slave;Play at baloon with's heart, and windeThe strings like scaines, steale into his mindeTen thousand false and feigned joyesFar worse then they; whilst, like whipt boys,After this scourge hee's hush with toys.
This heard, Sir, play stil in her eyes,And be a dying, live like flyesCaught by their angle-legs, and whomThe torch laughs peece-meale to consume.
"We treat mad-Bedlams, TOMS and BESSES,With ceremonies and caresses!"Dixon's CANIDIA, 1683, part i. canto 2.
Words in this poem
- sainted a.
- Consecrated; sacred; holy; pious.
- damned a.
- Sentenced to punishment in a future state; condemned; consigned to perdition.
- celestiall a.
- Belonging to the aërial regions, or visible heavens. [OF. celestial, celestied, fr. L. caelestic, fr. caelum heaved. See Cell.]
- willingly adv.
- In a willing manner; with free will; without reluctance; cheerfully.
- gyre v. t.
- To turn round; to gyrate. Bp. Hall. Drayton. [Cf. OF. gyrer, girer. See Gyrate.]
- semele n.
- A daughter of Cadmus, and by Zeus mother of Bacchus.
- abhor v. i.
- To shrink back with horror, disgust, or dislike; to be contrary or averse; -- with from.
- knack v. i.
- To crack; to make a sharp, abrupt noise to chink. [Obs. or Prov. [Prob. of imitative origin; cf. G. knacken to break, Dan. knage to crack, and E. knock.]
- passe a.
- Past; gone by; hence, past one's prime; worn; faded; as, a passée belle. Ld. Lytton. [F.]
- brasse n.
- A spotted European fish of the genus Lucioperca, resembling a perch. [Perh. a transposition of barse; but cf. LG. brasse the bream, G. brassen Cf. Bream.]
- sordid a.
- Filthy; foul; dirty. [L. sordidus, fr. sordere to be filthy or dirty; probably akin to E. swart: cf. F. sordide. See Swart, a.]
- scourge n.
- A lash; a strap or cord; especially, a lash used to inflict pain or punishment; an instrument of punishment or discipline; a whip. [F. escourgée, fr. L. excoriata (sc. scutica) a stripped off (lash or whip), fr. excoriate to strip, to skin. See Excoriate.]
- canto n.
- One of the chief divisions of a long poem; a book. [It. canto, fr. L. cantus singing, song. See Chant.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Against the Love of Great Ones is in the public domain. This text is taken from Lucasta, Project Gutenberg ebook #703; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Richard Lovelace, Against the Love of Great Ones, in Lucasta (1649), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #703, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lovelace-lucasta/against-the-love-of-great-ones.html, id L13019.
Form and metre
Against the Love of Great Ones is 67 lines in 6 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 66% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 30% 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 AABBCC--DDEEFF fateA · hateA · bandsB · handsB · loveC · proveC · uneven · heav'n · sentD · punishmentD · feeleE · wheeleE · paineF · againeF
- 2 AABBCCDDEE bowA · browA · choyceB · voyceB · tryeC · eyeC · sameD · flameD · burneE · turneE
- 3 AABB injoyA · boyA · sitB · witB
- 4 AA------BBCCDDEE-FF--GGHHIIJJKKK whomA · doomA · possesse · besse · do · show · her · caracter · sooneB · mooneB · complaintC · saintC · orD · abhorD · pineE · divineE · wombe · baseF · raceF · passe · brasse · appeareG · cleareG · sprungH · dungH · haveI · slaveI · windeJ · mindeJ · joyesK · boysK · toysK
- 5 AABB eyesA · flyesA · whomB · consumeB
- 6 AA- bessesA · caressesA · —
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Vnhappy youth, betrayd by Fate | 7 | ······· |
| To such a love hath sainted hate, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And damned those celestiall bands | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Are onely knit with equal hands; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The love of great ones is a love, | 8 | ········ |
| Gods are incapable to prove: | 8 | ··˘/˘˘·· |
| For where there is a joy uneven, | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| There never, never can be Heav'n: | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| 'Tis such a love as is not sent | 8 | ········ |
| To fiends as yet for punishment; | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| IXION willingly doth feele | 9 | ˘/˘/˘˘··· |
| The gyre of his eternal wheele, | 9 | ····˘/˘·· |
| Nor would he now exchange his paine | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| For cloudes and goddesses againe. | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Wouldst thou with tempests lye? Then bow | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To th' rougher furrows of her brow, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Or make a thunder-bolt thy choyce? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Then catch at her more fatal voyce; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Or 'gender with the lightning? trye | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The subtler flashes of her eye: | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘··· |
| Poore SEMELE wel knew the same, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Who both imbrac't her God and flame; | 8 | ········ |
| And not alone in soule did burne, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| But in this love did ashes turne. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| How il doth majesty injoy | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| The bow and gaity oth' boy, | 7 | ······· |
| As if the purple-roabe should sit, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And sentence give ith' chayr of wit. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Say, ever-dying wretch, to whom | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Each answer is a certaine doom, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| What is it that you would possesse, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| The Countes, or the naked Besse? | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Would you her gowne or title do? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Her box or gem, the thing or show? | 8 | ········ |
| If you meane HER, the very HER, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Abstracted from her caracter, | 8 | /·˘····· |
| Unhappy boy! you may as soone | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| With fawning wanton with the Moone, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Or with an amorous complaint | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| Get prostitute your very saint; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Not that we are not mortal, or | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Fly VENUS altars, and abhor | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| The selfesame knack, for which you pine; | 9 | ········· |
| But we (defend us!) are divine, | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| From a right-honourable wombe. | 8 | ········ |
| Shal we then mingle with the base, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And bring a silver-tinsell race? | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Whilst th' issue noble wil not passe | 9 | ·/˘/˘···/ |
| The gold alloyd (almost halfe brasse), | 8 | ····/··· |
| And th' blood in each veine doth appeare, | 8 | ········ |
| Part thick Booreinn, part Lady Cleare; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Like to the sordid insects sprung | 8 | ···/˘/·· |
| From Father Sun and Mother Dung: | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Yet lose we not the hold we have, | 8 | ········ |
| But faster graspe the trembling slave; | 9 | ·/˘··/˘˘· |
| Play at baloon with's heart, and winde | 8 | ········ |
| The strings like scaines, steale into his minde | 10 | ·········· |
| Ten thousand false and feigned joyes | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Far worse then they; whilst, like whipt boys, | 8 | ········ |
| After this scourge hee's hush with toys. | 8 | ········ |
| This heard, Sir, play stil in her eyes, | 8 | ········ |
| And be a dying, live like flyes | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Caught by their angle-legs, and whom | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The torch laughs peece-meale to consume. | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| "We treat mad-Bedlams, TOMS and BESSES, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| With ceremonies and caresses!" | 9 | ·/˘·˘·˘/˘ |
| Dixon's CANIDIA, 1683, part i. canto 2. | 9 | /˘·····/˘ |
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.