Auson
Toxica zelotypo dedit uxor maecha marito,Nec satis ad mortem credidit esse datum;Miscuit argenti lethalia pondera vivi,Ut celeret certam vis geminata necem.Ergo, inter sese dum noxia pocula certant,Cessit lethalis noxa saltuiferi.Protinus in vacuos alvi petiere recessus,Lubrica dejectis quae via nota cibis.Quam pia cura Deum! prodest crudelior uxor.Sic, cum fata volunt, bina venena juvant.
Words in this poem
- datum n.
- Something given or admitted; a fact or principle granted; that upon which an inference or an argument is based; -- used chiefly in the plural. [L. See 2d Date.]
- ergo conj.
- Therefore; consequently; -- often used in a jocular way. [L.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Auson 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, Auson, in Lucasta (1649), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #703, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lovelace-lucasta/auson.html, id L13092.
Form and metre
Auson is 10 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is trochaic heptameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 13.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in trochaic heptameter.
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.
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 trochaic heptameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Toxica zelotypo dedit uxor maecha marito, | 16 | ················ |
| Nec satis ad mortem credidit esse datum; | 12 | ····/˘····/˘ |
| Miscuit argenti lethalia pondera vivi, | 13 | ············· |
| Ut celeret certam vis geminata necem. | 13 | ············· |
| Ergo, inter sese dum noxia pocula certant, | 14 | /˘˘//˘········ |
| Cessit lethalis noxa saltuiferi. | 11 | ··········· |
| Protinus in vacuos alvi petiere recessus, | 13 | ············· |
| Lubrica dejectis quae via nota cibis. | 13 | ·······/˘···· |
| Quam pia cura Deum! prodest crudelior uxor. | 13 | ·/˘···/˘····· |
| Sic, cum fata volunt, bina venena juvant. | 13 | ··/˘··/˘····· |
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.