Upon the Three Daughters of My Dear Brother Mr. R. Caesar
Behold! three sister-wonders, in whom met,Distinct and chast, the splendrous counterfeitOf Juno, Venus and the warlike Maid,Each in their three divinities array'd;The majesty and state of Heav'ns great Queen,And when she treats the gods, her noble meen;The sweet victorious beauties and desiresO' th' sea-born princess, empresse too of fires;The sacred arts and glorious lawrels tornFrom the fair brow o' th' goddesse father-born;All these were quarter'd in each snowy coat,With canton'd honours of their own, to boot.Paris, by fate new-wak'd from his dead cell,Is charg'd to give his doom impossible.He views in each the brav'ry of all Ide;Whilst one, as once three, doth his soul divide.Then sighs so equally they're glorious all:
Words in this poem
- splendrous a.
- Splendid. Drayton.
- princess n.
- A female prince; a woman having sovereign power, or the rank of a prince. [F. princesse. See Prince, and cf. Princesse.]
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- snowy a.
- White like snow.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Upon the Three Daughters of My Dear Brother Mr. R. Caesar 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, Upon the Three Daughters of My Dear Brother Mr. R. Caesar, in Lucasta (1649), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #703, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lovelace-lucasta/upon-the-three-daughters-of-my-dear-brother-mr-r-caesar.html, id L13063.
Form and metre
Upon the Three Daughters of My Dear Brother Mr. R. Caesar is 17 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 71% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, 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 10.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 18% 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 --AABBCCDD--EEFFE met · counterfeit · maidA · array'dA · queenB · meenB · desiresC · firesC · tornD · bornD · coat · boot · cellE · impossibleE · ideF · divideF · allE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Behold! three sister-wonders, in whom met, | 10 | ˘/·/˘/˘··· |
| Distinct and chast, the splendrous counterfeit | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| Of Juno, Venus and the warlike Maid, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/·· |
| Each in their three divinities array'd; | 10 | ····˘/˘˘˘/ |
| The majesty and state of Heav'ns great Queen, | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| And when she treats the gods, her noble meen; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The sweet victorious beauties and desires | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| O' th' sea-born princess, empresse too of fires; | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| The sacred arts and glorious lawrels torn | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| From the fair brow o' th' goddesse father-born; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| All these were quarter'd in each snowy coat, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| With canton'd honours of their own, to boot. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Paris, by fate new-wak'd from his dead cell, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Is charg'd to give his doom impossible. | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| He views in each the brav'ry of all Ide; | 10 | ·········· |
| Whilst one, as once three, doth his soul divide. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Then sighs so equally they're glorious all: | 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.