The Ant
Forbear, thou great good husband, little ant;A little respite from thy flood of sweat!Thou, thine own horse and cart under this plant,Thy spacious tent, fan thy prodigious heat;Down with thy double load of that one grain!It is a granarie for all thy train.
Cease, large example of wise thrift, awhile(For thy example is become our law),And teach thy frowns a seasonable smile:So Cato sometimes the nak'd Florals saw.And thou, almighty foe, lay by thy sting,Whilst thy unpay'd musicians, crickets, sing.
LUCASTA, she that holy makes the day,And 'stills new life in fields of fueillemort,Hath back restor'd their verdure with one ray,And with her eye bid all to play and sport,Ant, to work still! age will thee truant call;And to save now, th'art worse than prodigal.
Austere and cynick! not one hour t' allow,To lose with pleasure, what thou gotst with pain;But drive on sacred festivals thy plow,Tearing high-ways with thy ore-charged wain.Not all thy life-time one poor minute live,And thy ore-labour'd bulk with mirth relieve?
Look up then, miserable ant, and spieThy fatal foes, for breaking of their law,Hov'ring above thee: Madam MARGARET PIE:And her fierce servant, meagre Sir JOHN DAW:Thy self and storehouse now they do store up,And thy whole harvest too within their crop.
Thus we unthrifty thrive within earth's tombFor some more rav'nous and ambitious jaw:The grain in th' ant's, the ant in the pie's womb,The pie in th' hawk's, the hawk ith' eagle's maw.So scattering to hord 'gainst a long day,Thinking to save all, we cast all away.
Words in this poem
- prodigious a.
- Of the nature of a prodigy; marvelous; wonderful; portentous. [L. prodigiosus, fr. prodigium a prodigy; cf. F. prodigieux. See Prodigy.]
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
- wain n.
- A four-wheeled vehicle for the transportation of goods, produce, etc.; a wagon. [OE. wain, AS. wægn; akin to D. & G. wagen, OHG. wagan, Icel. & Sw. vagn, Dan. vogn, and E. way. Way, Weigh, and cf. Wagon.]
- relieve v. t.
- To lift up; to raise again, as one who has fallen; to cause to rise. Piers Plowman. [OE. releven, F. relever to raise again, discharge, relieve, fr. L. relevare to lift up, raise, make light, relieve; pref. re- re- + levare to raise, fr. levis l]
- meagre a.
- Destitue of, or having little, flesh; lean. [OE. merge, F. maigre, L. macer; akin to D. & G. mager, Icel. magr, and prob. to Gr. Emaciate, Maigre.]
- unthrifty a.
- Not thrifty; profuse.
- womb n.
- The belly; the abdomen. [OE. wombe, wambe, AS. wamb, womb; akin to D. wam belly, OS. & OHG. wamba, G. wamme, wampe, Icel. vömb, Sw. v&mb, Dan. vom, Goth. wamba.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Ant 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, The Ant, in Lucasta (1649), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #703, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lovelace-lucasta/the-ant.html, id L13036.
Form and metre
The Ant is 36 lines in 6 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 3 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 8% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic 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 A-A-BB antA · sweat · plantA · heat · grainB · trainB
- 2 ABABCC awhileA · lawB · smileA · sawB · stingC · singC
- 3 ABABCC dayA · fueillemortB · rayA · sportB · callC · prodigalC
- 4 ABAB-- allowA · painB · plowA · wainB · live · relieve
- 5 ABAB-- spieA · lawB · pieA · dawB · up · crop
- 6 ABABCC tombA · jawB · wombA · mawB · dayC · awayC
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Forbear, thou great good husband, little ant; | 10 | ˘/···/˘/˘· |
| A little respite from thy flood of sweat! | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Thou, thine own horse and cart under this plant, | 10 | ·········· |
| Thy spacious tent, fan thy prodigious heat; | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Down with thy double load of that one grain! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| It is a granarie for all thy train. | 10 | ·········· |
| Cease, large example of wise thrift, awhile | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| (For thy example is become our law), | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘//· |
| And teach thy frowns a seasonable smile: | 10 | ·····/˘˘˘· |
| So Cato sometimes the nak'd Florals saw. | 11 | ·/˘˘/·/˘/˘· |
| And thou, almighty foe, lay by thy sting, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Whilst thy unpay'd musicians, crickets, sing. | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| LUCASTA, she that holy makes the day, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And 'stills new life in fields of fueillemort, | 10 | ·········· |
| Hath back restor'd their verdure with one ray, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| And with her eye bid all to play and sport, | 10 | ·········· |
| Ant, to work still! age will thee truant call; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And to save now, th'art worse than prodigal. | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Austere and cynick! not one hour t' allow, | 11 | ˘/·····/·˘/ |
| To lose with pleasure, what thou gotst with pain; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| But drive on sacred festivals thy plow, | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| Tearing high-ways with thy ore-charged wain. | 10 | /˘······˘· |
| Not all thy life-time one poor minute live, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And thy ore-labour'd bulk with mirth relieve? | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Look up then, miserable ant, and spie | 10 | ···/˘˘˘··· |
| Thy fatal foes, for breaking of their law, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Hov'ring above thee: Madam MARGARET PIE: | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| And her fierce servant, meagre Sir JOHN DAW: | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Thy self and storehouse now they do store up, | 10 | ···/······ |
| And thy whole harvest too within their crop. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Thus we unthrifty thrive within earth's tomb | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| For some more rav'nous and ambitious jaw: | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| The grain in th' ant's, the ant in the pie's womb, | 10 | ·········· |
| The pie in th' hawk's, the hawk ith' eagle's maw. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| So scattering to hord 'gainst a long day, | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| Thinking to save all, we cast all away. | 10 | /˘······˘/ |
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