Love Conquer'd
The childish god of love did sweareThus: By my awfull bow and quiver,Yon' weeping, kissing, smiling pair,I'le scatter all their vowes i' th' ayr,And their knit imbraces shiver.
Up then to th' head with his best artFull of spite and envy blowne,At her constant marble heart,He drawes his swiftest surest dart,Which bounded back, and hit his owne.
Now the prince of fires burnes;Flames in the luster of her eyes;Triumphant she, refuses, scornes;He submits, adores and mournes,And is his votresse sacrifice.
Foolish boy! resolve me nowWhat 'tis to sigh and not be heard?He weeping kneel'd, and made a vow:The world shall love as yon' fast two;So on his sing'd wings up he steer'd.
Words in this poem
- awfull a.
- Oppressing with fear or horror; appalling; terrible; as, an awful scene.
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Love Conquer'd 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, Love Conquer'd, in Lucasta (1649), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #703, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lovelace-lucasta/love-conquer-d.html, id L12989.
Form and metre
Love Conquer'd is 20 lines in 4 stanzas of 5 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 15% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 -A--A sweare · quiverA · pair · ayr · shiverA
- 2 ABAAB artA · blowneB · heartA · dartA · owneB
- 3 --AA- burnes · eyes · scornesA · mournesA · sacrifice
- 4 A-A-- nowA · heard · vowA · two · steer'd
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The childish god of love did sweare | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Thus: By my awfull bow and quiver, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Yon' weeping, kissing, smiling pair, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| I'le scatter all their vowes i' th' ayr, | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| And their knit imbraces shiver. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Up then to th' head with his best art | 8 | ········ |
| Full of spite and envy blowne, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| At her constant marble heart, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| He drawes his swiftest surest dart, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Which bounded back, and hit his owne. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Now the prince of fires burnes; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Flames in the luster of her eyes; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Triumphant she, refuses, scornes; | 8 | ˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| He submits, adores and mournes, | 7 | ··/˘/·· |
| And is his votresse sacrifice. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Foolish boy! resolve me now | 7 | /˘·˘/·· |
| What 'tis to sigh and not be heard? | 8 | ········ |
| He weeping kneel'd, and made a vow: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The world shall love as yon' fast two; | 8 | ········ |
| So on his sing'd wings up he steer'd. | 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.