To Chloe, Courting Her for His Friend
Chloe, behold! againe I bowe:Againe possest, againe I woe;From my heat hath taken fireDamas, noble youth, and fries,Gazing with one of mine eyes,Damas, halfe of me expires:Chloe, behold! Our fate's the same.Or make me cinders too, or quench his flame
I'd not be King, unlesse there sateLesse lords that shar'd with me in stateWho, by their cheaper coronets, know,What glories from my diadem flow:Its use and rate values the gem:Pearles in their shells have no esteem;And, I being sun within thy sphere,'Tis my chiefe beauty thinner lights shine there.
The Us'rer heaps unto his storeBy seeing others praise it more;Who not for gaine or want doth covet,But, 'cause another loves, doth love it:Thus gluttons cloy'd afresh inviteTheir gusts from some new appetite;And after cloth remov'd, and meate,Fall too againe by seeing others eate.
"My lady-mistresse cast an amourous eyeUpon my forme, which her affections drew,Shee was Love's martyr, and in flames did frye."By Sir F. Hubert, 1631, sig. C.
Words in this poem
- sate v. t.
- To satisfy the desire or appetite of; to satiate; to glut; to surfeit. [Probably shortened fr. satiate: cf. L. satus full. See Satiate.]
- afresh adv.
- Anew; again; once more; newly. [Pref. a- + fresh.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Chloe, Courting Her for His Friend 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 Chloe, Courting Her for His Friend, in Lucasta (1649), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #703, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lovelace-lucasta/to-chloe-courting-her-for-his-friend.html, id L13007.
Form and metre
To Chloe, Courting Her for His Friend is 28 lines in 4 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 79% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.6 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% 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 AA-BBBCC boweA · woeA · fire · friesB · eyesB · expiresB · sameC · flameC
- 2 AABB--CC sateA · stateA · knowB · flowB · gem · esteem · sphereC · thereC
- 3 AABBCCDD storeA · moreA · covetB · itB · inviteC · appetiteC · meateD · eateD
- 4 A-AA eyeA · drew · fryeA · cA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Chloe, behold! againe I bowe: | 8 | /˘˘/···· |
| Againe possest, againe I woe; | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| From my heat hath taken fire | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Damas, noble youth, and fries, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Gazing with one of mine eyes, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Damas, halfe of me expires: | 8 | /˘···˘/˘ |
| Chloe, behold! Our fate's the same. | 9 | /˘˘//˘··· |
| Or make me cinders too, or quench his flame | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| I'd not be King, unlesse there sate | 8 | ········ |
| Lesse lords that shar'd with me in state | 8 | ········ |
| Who, by their cheaper coronets, know, | 9 | ···/˘/˘/· |
| What glories from my diadem flow: | 9 | ·/˘··/˘·· |
| Its use and rate values the gem: | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Pearles in their shells have no esteem; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And, I being sun within thy sphere, | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| 'Tis my chiefe beauty thinner lights shine there. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| The Us'rer heaps unto his store | 8 | ········ |
| By seeing others praise it more; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Who not for gaine or want doth covet, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| But, 'cause another loves, doth love it: | 9 | ··˘/˘···· |
| Thus gluttons cloy'd afresh invite | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘/ |
| Their gusts from some new appetite; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And after cloth remov'd, and meate, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Fall too againe by seeing others eate. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| "My lady-mistresse cast an amourous eye | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| Upon my forme, which her affections drew, | 11 | ···/˘··˘/˘· |
| Shee was Love's martyr, and in flames did frye." | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| By Sir F. Hubert, 1631, sig. C. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
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