Another

Richard Lovelace (1617–1657) · 1649

iambic tetrameter · octosyllabic couplets · 26 lines · from Lucasta

The Centaur, Syren, I foregoe;Those have been sung, and lowdly too:Nor of the mixed Sphynx Ile write,Nor the renown'd Hermaphrodite.Behold! this huddle doth appearOf horses, coach and charioteer,That moveth him by traverse law,And doth himself both drive and draw;Then, when the Sunn the south doth winne,He baits him hot in his own inne.I heard a grave and austere clarkResolv'd him pilot both and barque;That, like the fam'd ship of TREVERE,Did on the shore himself lavere:Yet the authentick do beleeve,Who keep their judgement in their sleeve,That he is his own double man,And sick still carries his sedan:Or that like dames i'th land of Luyck,He wears his everlasting huyck.But banisht, I admire his fate,Since neither ostracisme of state,Nor a perpetual exile,Can force this virtue, change his soyl:For, wheresoever he doth go,He wanders with his country too.

Words in this poem

centaur n.
A fabulous being, represented as half man and half horse.
huddle v. i.
To press together promiscuously, from confusion, apprehension, or the like; to crowd together confusedly; to press or hurry in disorder; to crowd. [Cf. OE. hoderen, hodren, to cover, keep, warm; perh. akin to OE. huden, hiden, to hide, E. hide, and orig. meaning, to get together for protection in a safe pla]
charioteer n.
One who drives a chariot.
sunn n.
An East Indian leguminous plant (Crotalaria juncea) and its fiber, which is also called sunn hemp. [Hind. san, fr. Skr. çana.]
winne v. t.
To gain by superiority in competition or contest; to obtain by victory over competitors or rivals; as, to win the prize in a gate; to win money; to win a battle, or to win a country. [OE. winnen, AS. winnan to strive, labor, fight, endure; akin to OFries. winna, OS. winnan, D. winnen to win, gain, G. gewinnen, OHG. winnan to strive, struggle,]
barque n.
Formerly, any small sailing vessel, as a pinnace, fishing smack, etc.; also, a rowing boat; a barge. Now applied poetically to a sailing vessel or boat of any kind. [F. barque, fr. Sp. or It. barca, fr. LL. barca for barica. See Barge.]
lavere v. i.
To beat against the wind; to tack. [D. laveren.]
sedan n.
A portable chair or covered vehicle for carrying a single person, -- usually borne on poles by two men. Called also sedan chair. [Said to be named from Sedan, in France, where it was first made, and whence it was introduced into England in the time of King Charles I.]
admire v. t.
To regard with wonder or astonishment; to view with surprise; to marvel at. [F. admirer, fr. L. admirari; ad + mirari to wonder, for smirari, akin to Gr. smi, and E. smile.]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Another 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, Another, in Lucasta (1649), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #703, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lovelace-lucasta/another-2.html, id L13060.

Form and metre

Another is 26 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 69% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 8% 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. 1 -ABBCCDDEEFFC-GGHHIIJJ---A foregoe · tooA · writeB · hermaphroditeB · appearC · charioteerC · lawD · drawD · winneE · inneE · clarkF · barqueF · trevereC · lavere · beleeveG · sleeveG · manH · sedanH · luyckI · huyckI · fateJ · stateJ · exile · soyl · go · tooA
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.

LineSyl.Stress
The Centaur, Syren, I foregoe;9·/·/˘····
Those have been sung, and lowdly too:8········
Nor of the mixed Sphynx Ile write,9····˘····
Nor the renown'd Hermaphrodite.8··˘/˘/˘·
Behold! this huddle doth appear8˘/·/˘·˘/
Of horses, coach and charioteer,8·/˘·····
That moveth him by traverse law,8·····/˘·
And doth himself both drive and draw;8··˘/····
Then, when the Sunn the south doth winne,8········
He baits him hot in his own inne.8········
I heard a grave and austere clark8·····˘/·
Resolv'd him pilot both and barque;8˘/·/˘···
That, like the fam'd ship of TREVERE,8········
Did on the shore himself lavere:9····˘/˘/˘
Yet the authentick do beleeve,8········
Who keep their judgement in their sleeve,8···/˘···
That he is his own double man,8·····/˘·
And sick still carries his sedan:8···/˘·˘/
Or that like dames i'th land of Luyck,8········
He wears his everlasting huyck.8····˘/˘·
But banisht, I admire his fate,8····˘/··
Since neither ostracisme of state,8·/˘·····
Nor a perpetual exile,8··˘/˘˘/·
Can force this virtue, change his soyl:8···/˘···
For, wheresoever he doth go,8········
He wanders with his country too.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.

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