Devotion
Captain Tobias Hume’s _The FirstPart of Airs, &c._, 1605
Fain would I change that noteTo which fond Love hath charm’d meLong, long to sing by rote,Fancying that that harm’d me:Yet when this thought doth come,‘Love is the perfect sumOf all delight,’I have no other choiceEither for pen or voiceTo sing or write.
O Love! they wrong thee muchThat say thy sweet is bitter,When thy rich fruit is suchAs nothing can be sweeter.Fair house of joy and bliss,Where truest pleasure is,I do adore thee:I know thee what thou art,I serve thee with my heart,And fall before thee.
Words in this poem
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- rote v. t.
- To learn or repeat by rote.
- 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
Devotion is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900, Project Gutenberg ebook #66619; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Anonymous, Devotion, in Poems, text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-anonymous-english/devotion.html, id L15917.
Form and metre
Devotion is 22 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.9 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 41% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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.
- 2 ABABCCDEED noteA · meB · roteA · meB · comeC · sumC · delightD · choiceE · voiceE · writeD
- 3 A-A---BCCB muchA · bitter · suchA · sweeter · bliss · is · theeB · artC · heartC · theeB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Captain Tobias Hume’s _The First | 8 | /˘˘/˘··· |
| Part of Airs, &c._, 1605 | 4 | ···· |
| Fain would I change that note | 6 | ······ |
| To which fond Love hath charm’d me | 7 | ······· |
| Long, long to sing by rote, | 6 | ······ |
| Fancying that that harm’d me: | 6 | /˘···· |
| Yet when this thought doth come, | 6 | ······ |
| ‘Love is the perfect sum | 6 | ···˘/· |
| Of all delight,’ | 4 | ··˘/ |
| I have no other choice | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Either for pen or voice | 6 | /˘···· |
| To sing or write. | 4 | ···· |
| O Love! they wrong thee much | 6 | ······ |
| That say thy sweet is bitter, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| When thy rich fruit is such | 6 | ······ |
| As nothing can be sweeter. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Fair house of joy and bliss, | 6 | ······ |
| Where truest pleasure is, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| I do adore thee: | 5 | ··˘/· |
| I know thee what thou art, | 6 | ······ |
| I serve thee with my heart, | 6 | ······ |
| And fall before thee. | 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.