"To His Fairest Valentine Mrs. A. L
"Come, pretty birds, present your lays,And learn to chaunt a goddess praise;Ye wood-nymphs, let your voices beEmploy'd to serve her deity:And warble forth, ye virgins nine,Some music to my Valentine.
"Her bosom is love's paradise,There is no heav'n but in her eyes;She's chaster than the turtle-dove,And fairer than the queen of love:Yet all perfections do combineTo beautifie my Valentine.
"She's Nature's choicest cabinet,Where honour, beauty, worth and witAre all united in her breast.The graces claim an interest:All virtues that are most divineShine clearest in my Valentine."
"Dido was the Carthage Queene,And lov'd the Troian knight,That wandring many coasts had seene,And many a dreadfull fight.As they a-hunting road, a show'rDrove them in a loving bower,Down to a darksome cave:Where Aenaeas with his charmesLock't Queene Dido in his armesAnd had what he would have."
A somewhat different version is given in Durfey's PILLS TO PURGEMELANCHOLY, vi. 192-3.
Words in this poem
- warble v. t.
- To sing in a trilling, quavering, or vibratory manner; to modulate with turns or variations; to trill; as, certain birds are remarkable for warbling their songs. [OE. werbelen, OF. werbler; of Teutonic origin; cf. G. wirbeln to turn, to warble, D. wervelen, akin to E. whirl. See Whirl.]
- valentine n.
- A sweetheart chosen on St. Valentine's Day.
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- dreadfull a.
- Full of dread or terror; fearful.
- drove n.
- A collection of cattle driven, or cattle collected for driving; a number of animals, as oxen, sheep, or swine, driven in a body. [AS. draf, fr. drifan to drive. See Drive.]
- darksome a.
- Dark; gloomy; obscure; shaded; cheerless.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
"To His Fairest Valentine Mrs. A. L 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 His Fairest Valentine Mrs. A. L, in Lucasta (1649), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #703, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lovelace-lucasta/to-his-fairest-valentine-mrs-a-l.html, id L13022.
Form and metre
"To His Fairest Valentine Mrs. A. L is 30 lines in 5 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 53% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.7 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 27% 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--BB laysA · praiseA · be · deity · nineB · valentineB
- 2 --AABB paradise · eyes · doveA · loveA · combineB · valentineB
- 3 AABBCC cabinetA · witA · breastB · interestB · divineC · valentineC
- 4 ABAB--CDDC queeneA · knightB · seeneA · fightB · show'r · bower · caveC · charmesD · armesD · haveC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| "Come, pretty birds, present your lays, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| And learn to chaunt a goddess praise; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Ye wood-nymphs, let your voices be | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Employ'd to serve her deity: | 8 | ˘/···/˘˘ |
| And warble forth, ye virgins nine, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Some music to my Valentine. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| "Her bosom is love's paradise, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| There is no heav'n but in her eyes; | 8 | ········ |
| She's chaster than the turtle-dove, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And fairer than the queen of love: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Yet all perfections do combine | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| To beautifie my Valentine. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| "She's Nature's choicest cabinet, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Where honour, beauty, worth and wit | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Are all united in her breast. | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| The graces claim an interest: | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| All virtues that are most divine | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Shine clearest in my Valentine." | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| "Dido was the Carthage Queene, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| And lov'd the Troian knight, | 5 | ····· |
| That wandring many coasts had seene, | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘··· |
| And many a dreadfull fight. | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| As they a-hunting road, a show'r | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Drove them in a loving bower, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Down to a darksome cave: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Where Aenaeas with his charmes | 6 | ······ |
| Lock't Queene Dido in his armes | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And had what he would have." | 6 | ······ |
| A somewhat different version is given in Durfey's PILLS TO PURGE | 15 | ·///˘/˘·/·/˘··· |
| MELANCHOLY, vi. 192-3. | 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.