Female Glory
Mongst the worlds wonders, there doth yet remainOne greater than the rest, that's all those o're again,And her own self beside: A Lady, whose soft breastIs with vast honours soul and virtues life possest.Fair as original light first from the chaos shot,When day in virgin-beams triumph'd, and night was not,And as that breath infus'd in the new-breather good,When ill unknown was dumb, and bad not understood;Chearful, as that aspect at this world's finishing,When cherubims clapp'd wings, and th' sons of Heaven did sing;Chast as th' Arabian bird, who all the ayr denyes,And ev'n in flames expires, when with her selfe she lyes.Oh! she's as kind as drops of new faln April showers,That on each gentle breast spring fresh perfuming flowers;She's constant, gen'rous, fixt; she's calm, she is the allWe can of vertue, honour, faith, or glory call,And she is (whom I thus transmit to endless fame)Mistresse oth' world and me, and LAURA is her name.
Words in this poem
- chaos n.
- An empty, immeasurable space; a yawning chasm. [L. chaos chaos (in senses 1 & 2), Gr. Chasm.]
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- laura n.
- A number of hermitages or cells in the same neighborhood occupied by anchorites who were under the same superior. C. Kingsley.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Female Glory 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, Female Glory, in Lucasta (1649), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #703, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lovelace-lucasta/female-glory.html, id L13055.
Form and metre
Female Glory is 18 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is iambic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.8 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 17% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in iambic hexameter.
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHII remainA · againA · breastB · possestB · shotC · notC · goodD · understoodD · finishingE · singE · denyesF · lyesF · showersG · flowersG · allH · callH · fameI · nameI
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 hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Mongst the worlds wonders, there doth yet remain | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| One greater than the rest, that's all those o're again, | 12 | ·/˘·······˘/ |
| And her own self beside: A Lady, whose soft breast | 12 | ····˘/·/˘··· |
| Is with vast honours soul and virtues life possest. | 12 | ···/˘··/˘·/˘ |
| Fair as original light first from the chaos shot, | 12 | ··˘/˘····/˘· |
| When day in virgin-beams triumph'd, and night was not, | 12 | ···/˘·/˘···· |
| And as that breath infus'd in the new-breather good, | 12 | ····˘/···/˘· |
| When ill unknown was dumb, and bad not understood; | 12 | ··˘/······˘/ |
| Chearful, as that aspect at this world's finishing, | 12 | ····/····/˘˘ |
| When cherubims clapp'd wings, and th' sons of Heaven did sing; | 12 | ·········/·· |
| Chast as th' Arabian bird, who all the ayr denyes, | 12 | ··˘/˘·····˘/ |
| And ev'n in flames expires, when with her selfe she lyes. | 12 | ····˘/······ |
| Oh! she's as kind as drops of new faln April showers, | 13 | ·········/˘/˘ |
| That on each gentle breast spring fresh perfuming flowers; | 13 | ···/˘···˘/˘/˘ |
| She's constant, gen'rous, fixt; she's calm, she is the all | 12 | ·/˘········· |
| We can of vertue, honour, faith, or glory call, | 11 | ····/˘··/˘· |
| And she is (whom I thus transmit to endless fame) | 12 | ······˘/·/˘· |
| Mistresse oth' world and me, and LAURA is her name. | 12 | ·······/˘··· |
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.