Pentadii
Non est, fulleris, haec beata non estQuod vos creditis esse, vita non est:Fulgentes manibus videre gemmasEt testudineo jacere lecto,Aut pluma latus abdidisse molli,Aut auro bibere, aut cubare cocco;Regales dapibus gravare mensas,Et quicquid Lybico secatur arvo;Non una positum tenere cella:Sed nullos trepidum timere casus,Nec vano populi favore tangi,Et stricto nihil aestuare ferro:Hoc quisquis poterit, licebit illiFortunam moveat loco superbus.
Words in this poem
- quod v.
- Quoth; said. See Quoth.
- casus n.
- An event; an occurrence; an occasion; a combination of circumstances; a case; an act of God. See the Note under Accident. [L.]
- nihil n.
- Nothing. Nihil album Etym: [L., white nothing] (Chem.), oxide of zinc. See under Zinc. [L.]
- loco adv.
- A direction in written or printed music to return to the proper pitch after having played an octave higher. [It.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Pentadii 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, Pentadii, in Lucasta (1649), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #703, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lovelace-lucasta/pentadii.html, id L13080.
Form and metre
Pentadii is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 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 trochaic 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 AA-------B---B estA · estA · gemmas · lecto · molli · cocco · mensas · arvo · cella · casusB · tangi · ferro · illi · superbusB
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 trochaic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Non est, fulleris, haec beata non est | 13 | ·˘/····˘/˘·˘/ |
| Quod vos creditis esse, vita non est: | 11 | ······/˘·˘/ |
| Fulgentes manibus videre gemmas | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Et testudineo jacere lecto, | 9 | ········· |
| Aut pluma latus abdidisse molli, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Aut auro bibere, aut cubare cocco; | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Regales dapibus gravare mensas, | 9 | ˘/······· |
| Et quicquid Lybico secatur arvo; | 11 | ··········· |
| Non una positum tenere cella: | 10 | ·/˘·····/˘ |
| Sed nullos trepidum timere casus, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Nec vano populi favore tangi, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Et stricto nihil aestuare ferro: | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Hoc quisquis poterit, licebit illi | 11 | ··········· |
| Fortunam moveat loco superbus. | 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.