Vrais Amants (Fourteenth Century)
"Time mocks thy opening music with a close;What now he gives long since he gave away.Thou deemst thy sun hath risen, but ere it roseIt was eclipsed, and dusk shall be thy day."
Yet has the Dawn gone up: in loveliest lightShe walks high heaven beyond the shadow there:Whom I too veiled from all men's envious sightWith inward eyes adore and silent prayer.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- veiled a.
- Covered by, or as by, a veil; hidden.
- envious a.
- Malignant; mischievous; spiteful. [OF. envios, F. envieux, fr. L. invidiosus, fr. invidia envy. See Envy, and cf. Invidious.]
- adore v. t.
- To worship with profound reverence; to pay divine honors to; to honor as deity or as divine. [OE. aouren, anouren, adoren, OF. aorer, adorer, F. adorer, fr. L. adorare; ad + orare to speak, pray, os, oris, mouth. In OE. confused with honor, the French pr]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Vrais Amants (Fourteenth Century) is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems: New and Old, Project Gutenberg ebook #24405; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry John Newbolt, Vrais Amants (Fourteenth Century), in Poems: New and Old (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #24405, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/newbolt-poems/vrais-amants-fourteenth-century.html, id L11459.
Form and metre
Vrais Amants (Fourteenth Century) is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 38% 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 ABAB closeA · awayB · roseA · dayB
- 2 ABAB lightA · thereB · sightA · prayerB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| "Time mocks thy opening music with a close; | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| What now he gives long since he gave away. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Thou deemst thy sun hath risen, but ere it rose | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| It was eclipsed, and dusk shall be thy day." | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Yet has the Dawn gone up: in loveliest light | 11 | ··········· |
| She walks high heaven beyond the shadow there: | 10 | ···/···/·· |
| Whom I too veiled from all men's envious sight | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| With inward eyes adore and silent prayer. | 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.