Ode III
That strange force on the ignoble hath renown;As AURUM FULMINANS, it blows vice down.'Twere better (heavy one) to crawlForgot, then raised, trod on to fall.All your defections nowAre not writ on your brow;Odes to faults giveA shame must live.When a fat mist we view, we coughing run;But, that once meteor drawn, all cry: undone.
Words in this poem
- aurum n.
- Gold. Aurum fulminans (See Fulminate. [L.]
- crawl v. i.
- To move slowly by drawing the body along the ground, as a worm; to move slowly on hands and kness; to creep. [Dan. kravle, or Icel. krafla, to paw, scrabble with the hands; akin to Sw. kr to crawl; cf. LG. krabbeln, D. krabbelen to scratch.]
- undone a.
- Not done or performed; neglected. [Pref. un- not + done.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ode III 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, Ode III, in Lucasta (1649), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #703, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lovelace-lucasta/ode-iii.html, id L13047.
Form and metre
Ode III is 10 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: octosyllabic couplets. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter. 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 30% 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 AABBCCDDEE renownA · downA · crawlB · fallB · nowC · browC · giveD · liveD · runE · undoneE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| That strange force on the ignoble hath renown; | 11 | ·····˘/˘·˘/ |
| As AURUM FULMINANS, it blows vice down. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| 'Twere better (heavy one) to crawl | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Forgot, then raised, trod on to fall. | 9 | ˘/··˘···· |
| All your defections now | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Are not writ on your brow; | 6 | ······ |
| Odes to faults give | 4 | ···· |
| A shame must live. | 4 | ···· |
| When a fat mist we view, we coughing run; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But, that once meteor drawn, all cry: undone. | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
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.