Hymn to Diana
Queen and huntress, chaste and fair,Now the sun is laid to sleep,Seated in thy silver chair,State in wonted manner keep:Hesperus entreats thy light,Goddess excellently bright.
Earth, let not thy envious shadeDare itself to interpose;Cynthia’s shining orb was madeHeaven to clear when day did close:Bless us then with wishèd sight,Goddess excellently bright.
Lay thy bow of pearl apart,And thy crystal-shining quiver;Give unto the flying hartSpace to breathe, how short soever:Thou that mak’st a day of night--Goddess excellently bright.
Words in this poem
- huntress n.
- A woman who hunts or follows the chase; as, the huntress Diana.
- wonted a.
- Accustomed; customary; usual.
- hesperus n.
- Venus when she is the evening star; Hesper. [L. See Hesper.]
- excellently adv.
- In an excellent manner; well in a high degree.
- envious a.
- Malignant; mischievous; spiteful. [OF. envios, F. envieux, fr. L. invidiosus, fr. invidia envy. See Envy, and cf. Invidious.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Hymn to Diana 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: Ben Jonson, Hymn to Diana, in Poems (1573–1637), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-ben-jonson/hymn-to-diana.html, id L16005.
Form and metre
Hymn to Diana is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 17% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 ABABCC fairA · sleepB · chairA · keepB · lightC · brightC
- 2 ABABCC shadeA · interposeB · madeA · closeB · sightC · brightC
- 3 A-A-BB apartA · quiver · hartA · soever · nightB · brightB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Queen and huntress, chaste and fair, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Now the sun is laid to sleep, | 7 | ······· |
| Seated in thy silver chair, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| State in wonted manner keep: | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Hesperus entreats thy light, | 7 | /˘˘···· |
| Goddess excellently bright. | 7 | /˘/˘˘˘· |
| Earth, let not thy envious shade | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Dare itself to interpose; | 7 | ·˘/··˘/ |
| Cynthia’s shining orb was made | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Heaven to clear when day did close: | 7 | /······ |
| Bless us then with wishèd sight, | 6 | ······ |
| Goddess excellently bright. | 7 | /˘/˘˘˘· |
| Lay thy bow of pearl apart, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| And thy crystal-shining quiver; | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Give unto the flying hart | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Space to breathe, how short soever: | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Thou that mak’st a day of night-- | 7 | ······· |
| Goddess excellently bright. | 7 | /˘/˘˘˘· |
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.