Orpheus to Beasts II
Oh! could you view the melodieOf ev'ry grace,And musick of her face,You'd drop a teare,Seeing more harmonieIn her bright eye,Then now you heare.
"We that are ORPHEUS' sons, and can inheritBy that great title"--Davenant's WORKS, 1673, p. 215.
About this text
Orpheus to Beasts II 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, Orpheus to Beasts II, in Lucasta (1649), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #703, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lovelace-lucasta/orpheus-to-beasts-ii.html, id L12993.
Form and metre
Orpheus to Beasts II is 10 lines in 2 stanzas. 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.7 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 30% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 -AAB--B melodie · graceA · faceA · teareB · harmonie · eye · heareB
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Oh! could you view the melodie | 8 | ········ |
| Of ev'ry grace, | 4 | ···· |
| And musick of her face, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| You'd drop a teare, | 4 | ···· |
| Seeing more harmonie | 5 | /·/˘˘ |
| In her bright eye, | 4 | ···· |
| Then now you heare. | 4 | ···· |
| "We that are ORPHEUS' sons, and can inherit | 11 | ···/˘···˘/˘ |
| By that great title"-- | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Davenant's WORKS, 1673, p. 215. | 5 | ····· |
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.