Icarus
Robert Jones’s _Second Book ofSongs and Airs_, 1601
Love wing’d my Hopes and taught me how to flyFar from base earth, but not to mount too high:For true pleasureLives in measure,Which if men forsake,Blinded they into folly run and grief for pleasure take.
But my vain Hopes, proud of their new-taught flight,Enamour’d sought to woo the sun’s fair light,Whose rich brightnessMoved their lightnessTo aspire so highThat all scorch’d and consumed with fire now drown’d in woe they lie.
And none but Love their woeful hap did rue,For Love did know that their desires were true;Though fate frownèd,And now drownèdThey in sorrow dwell,It was the purest light of heav’n for whose fair love they fell.
Words in this poem
- aspire v. t.
- To aspire to; to long for; to try to reach; to mount to.
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Icarus 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, Icarus, in Poems, text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-anonymous-english/icarus.html, id L15911.
Form and metre
Icarus is 20 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABBCC, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is trochaic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 75%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.6 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 40% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic dimeter.
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 AABBCC flyA · highA · pleasureB · measureB · forsakeC · takeC
- 3 AABBCC flightA · lightA · brightnessB · lightnessB · highC · lieC
- 4 AABBCC rueA · trueA · frownèdB · drownèdB · dwellC · fellC
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 trochaic dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Robert Jones’s _Second Book of | 8 | /˘/˘/˘·· |
| Songs and Airs_, 1601 | 3 | ··· |
| Love wing’d my Hopes and taught me how to fly | 10 | ·········· |
| Far from base earth, but not to mount too high: | 10 | ·········· |
| For true pleasure | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Lives in measure, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Which if men forsake, | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Blinded they into folly run and grief for pleasure take. | 14 | /˘···/˘····/˘· |
| But my vain Hopes, proud of their new-taught flight, | 10 | ·········· |
| Enamour’d sought to woo the sun’s fair light, | 10 | ·········· |
| Whose rich brightness | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Moved their lightness | 4 | ··/˘ |
| To aspire so high | 5 | ·˘/·· |
| That all scorch’d and consumed with fire now drown’d in woe they lie. | 15 | ····˘/·/˘······ |
| And none but Love their woeful hap did rue, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| For Love did know that their desires were true; | 11 | ······˘/˘·· |
| Though fate frownèd, | 3 | ··· |
| And now drownèd | 3 | ··· |
| They in sorrow dwell, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| It was the purest light of heav’n for whose fair love they fell. | 14 | ···/˘········· |
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.