Elegie
Great son of Mars, and of Minerva too!With what oblations must we come to wooThy sacred soul to look down from above,And see how much thy memory we love,Whose happy pen so pleased amorous ears,And, lifting bright LUCASTA to the sphears,Her in the star-bespangled orb did setAbove fair Ariadnes coronet,Leaving a pattern to succeeding wits,By which to sing forth their Pythonick fits.Shall we bring tears and sighs? no, no! then weShould but bemone our selves for loosing thee,Or else thy happiness seem to deny,Or to repine at thy felicity.Then, whilst we chant out thine immortal praise,Our offerings shall be onely sprigs of bays;And if our tears will needs their brinks out-fly,We'l weep them forth into an elegy,To tell the world, how deep fates wounded wit,When Atropos the lovely Lovelace hit!How th' active fire, which cloath'd thy gen'rous mind,Consum'd the water, and the earth calcin'dUntill a stronger heat by death was given,Which sublimated thy poor soul to heaven.Thou knew'st right well to guide the warlike steed,And yet could'st court the Muses with full speedAnd such success, that the inspiring NineHave fill'd their Thespian fountain so with brine.Henceforth we can expect no lyrick lay,But biting satyres through the world must stray.Bellona joyns with fair Erato too,And with the Destinies do keep adoe,Whom thus she queries: could not you awhileReprieve his life, until another fileOf poems such as these had been drawn up?The fates reply'd that thou wert taken up,A sacrifice unto the deities;Since things most perfect please their holy eyes,And that no other victim could be foundWith so much learning and true virtue crown'd.Since it is so, in peace for ever rest;Tis very just that God should have the best.Sym. Ognell M.D. Coningbrens.
Words in this poem 15
- minerva n.
- The goddess of wisdom, of war, of the arts and sciences, of poetry, and of spinning and weaving; -- identified with the Grecian Pallas Athene. [L.]
- 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,]
- repine v. i.
- To fail; to wane. [Pref. re- + pine to languish.]
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- elegy n.
- A mournful or plaintive poem; a funereal song; a poem of lamentation.
- untill prep.
- To; unto; towards; -- used of material objects. [OE. until, ontil; un- (as in unto) + til till; cf. Dan. indtil, Sw. intill. See Unto, and Till, prep.]
- sublimated a.
- Refined by, or as by, sublimation; exalted; purified.
- steed n.
- A horse, especially a spirited horse for state of war; -- used chiefly in poetry or stately prose. [OE. stede, AS. steda a stud-horse, war horse, fr. stod a stud of breeding steeds; akin to G. stute a mare, Icel. stedda, sto, a stud. *163. See Stud of horses.]
- thespian a.
- Of or pertaining to Thespis; hence, relating to the drama; dramatic; as, the Thespian art.
- henceforth adv.
- From this time forward; henceforward.
- expect v. t.
- To wait for; to await. [L. expectatum, to look out for, await, expect; ex + out spectare to look at. See Spectacle.]
- bellona n.
- The goddess of war. [L., from bellum war.]
- erato n.
- The Muse who presided over lyric and amatory poetry.
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
- reprieve v. t.
- To delay the punishment of; to suspend the execution of sentence on; to give a respite to; to respite; as, to reprieve a criminal for thirty days. [OE. repreven to reject, disallow, OF. reprover to blame, reproach, condemn (pres. il reprueve), F. réprouver to disapprove, fr. L. reprobare to reject, condemn;]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Elegie 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, Elegie, in Lucasta (1649), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #703, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lovelace-lucasta/elegie.html, id L13117.
Form and metre
Elegie is 43 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 79% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 21% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AABBCCDDEEFFF-GGF-HHIIJJKKJJLL--MM--NNOOPP- tooA · wooA · aboveB · loveB · earsC · sphearsC · setD · coronetD · witsE · fitsE · weF · theeF · denyF · felicity · praiseG · baysG · flyF · elegy · witH · hitH · mindI · calcin'dI · givenJ · heavenJ · steedK · speedK · nineJ · brineJ · layL · strayL · too · adoe · awhileM · fileM · up · up · deitiesN · eyesN · foundO · crown'dO · restP · bestP · coningbrens
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Great son of Mars, and of Minerva too! | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| With what oblations must we come to woo | 10 | ·········· |
| Thy sacred soul to look down from above, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And see how much thy memory we love, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Whose happy pen so pleased amorous ears, | 10 | ·/˘···/˘˘· |
| And, lifting bright LUCASTA to the sphears, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Her in the star-bespangled orb did set | 10 | ······˘··· |
| Above fair Ariadnes coronet, | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘/ |
| Leaving a pattern to succeeding wits, | 10 | /˘·/˘·˘/˘· |
| By which to sing forth their Pythonick fits. | 10 | ·········· |
| Shall we bring tears and sighs? no, no! then we | 10 | ·········· |
| Should but bemone our selves for loosing thee, | 10 | ····/··/˘· |
| Or else thy happiness seem to deny, | 10 | ···/˘˘··˘/ |
| Or to repine at thy felicity. | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘˘ |
| Then, whilst we chant out thine immortal praise, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Our offerings shall be onely sprigs of bays; | 10 | //˘··/˘··· |
| And if our tears will needs their brinks out-fly, | 10 | ··/······· |
| We'l weep them forth into an elegy, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| To tell the world, how deep fates wounded wit, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| When Atropos the lovely Lovelace hit! | 10 | ·····/˘/·· |
| How th' active fire, which cloath'd thy gen'rous mind, | 10 | ·/˘/······ |
| Consum'd the water, and the earth calcin'd | 10 | ˘/·/˘····· |
| Untill a stronger heat by death was given, | 11 | ˘/·/˘····/˘ |
| Which sublimated thy poor soul to heaven. | 10 | ·/˘˘····/˘ |
| Thou knew'st right well to guide the warlike steed, | 10 | ·······/·· |
| And yet could'st court the Muses with full speed | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And such success, that the inspiring Nine | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘· |
| Have fill'd their Thespian fountain so with brine. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Henceforth we can expect no lyrick lay, | 10 | //··˘/···· |
| But biting satyres through the world must stray. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Bellona joyns with fair Erato too, | 10 | ˘/˘···/˘˘· |
| And with the Destinies do keep adoe, | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Whom thus she queries: could not you awhile | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Reprieve his life, until another file | 10 | ˘/····˘/˘· |
| Of poems such as these had been drawn up? | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The fates reply'd that thou wert taken up, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| A sacrifice unto the deities; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| Since things most perfect please their holy eyes, | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| And that no other victim could be found | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| With so much learning and true virtue crown'd. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Since it is so, in peace for ever rest; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Tis very just that God should have the best. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Sym. Ognell M.D. Coningbrens. | 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.