To a Lady with Child That Ask'd an Old Shirt
And why an honour'd ragged shirt, that shows,Like tatter'd ensigns, all its bodie's blows?Should it be swathed in a vest so dire,It were enough to set the child on fire;Dishevell'd queens should strip them of their hair,And in it mantle the new rising heir:Nor do I know ought worth to wrap it in,Except my parchment upper-coat of skin;And then expect no end of its chast tears,That first was rowl'd in down, now furs of bears.
But since to ladies 't hath a custome beenLinnen to send, that travail and lye in;To the nine sempstresses, my former friends,I su'd; but they had nought but shreds and ends.At last, the jolli'st of the three times threeRent th' apron from her smock, and gave it me;'Twas soft and gentle, subt'ly spun, no doubt;Pardon my boldnese, madam; HERE'S THE CLOUT.
"INDULGENCEWell, yet before the goest, hold heareStand to thy tackling stout."
Words in this poem
- vest n.
- An article of clothing covering the person; an outer garment; a vestment; a dress; a vesture; a robe. [L. vestis a garment, vesture; akin to Goth. wasti, and E. wear: cf. F. veste. See Wear to carry on the person, and cf. Divest, Invest, Travesty.]
- dire a.
- Ill-boding; portentous; as, dire omens. [L. dirus; of uncertain origin.]
- ought p. p.
- Was or were under obligation to pay; owed. [Orig. the preterit of the verb to owe. OE. oughte, aughte, ahte, AS. ahte. sq. root110. See Owe.]
- expect v. t.
- To wait for; to await. [L. expectatum, to look out for, await, expect; ex + out spectare to look at. See Spectacle.]
- clout n.
- A cloth; a piece of cloth or leather; a patch; a rag. [AS. clut a little cloth, piece of metal; cf. Sw. klut, Icel. klutr a kerchief, or W. clwt a clout, Gael. clud.]
- tackling n.
- Furniture of the masts and yards of a vessel, as cordage, sails, etc.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To a Lady with Child That Ask'd an Old Shirt 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, To a Lady with Child That Ask'd an Old Shirt, in Lucasta (1649), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #703, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lovelace-lucasta/to-a-lady-with-child-that-ask-d-an-old-shirt.html, id L13043.
Form and metre
To a Lady with Child That Ask'd an Old Shirt is 21 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 86% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.5 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AABBCCDDEE showsA · blowsA · direB · fireB · hairC · heirC · inD · skinD · tearsE · bearsE
- 2 AABBCCDD beenA · inA · friendsB · endsB · threeC · meC · doubtD · cloutD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| And why an honour'd ragged shirt, that shows, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Like tatter'd ensigns, all its bodie's blows? | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Should it be swathed in a vest so dire, | 10 | ····˘····· |
| It were enough to set the child on fire; | 11 | ··˘/·····/˘ |
| Dishevell'd queens should strip them of their hair, | 10 | ·········· |
| And in it mantle the new rising heir: | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Nor do I know ought worth to wrap it in, | 10 | ·········· |
| Except my parchment upper-coat of skin; | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And then expect no end of its chast tears, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| That first was rowl'd in down, now furs of bears. | 10 | ·········· |
| But since to ladies 't hath a custome been | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| Linnen to send, that travail and lye in; | 10 | ·····˘/··· |
| To the nine sempstresses, my former friends, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I su'd; but they had nought but shreds and ends. | 10 | ·········· |
| At last, the jolli'st of the three times three | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Rent th' apron from her smock, and gave it me; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| 'Twas soft and gentle, subt'ly spun, no doubt; | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Pardon my boldnese, madam; HERE'S THE CLOUT. | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| "INDULGENCE | 3 | ˘/˘ |
| Well, yet before the goest, hold heare | 8 | ········ |
| Stand to thy tackling stout." | 6 | ···/˘· |
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.