Simplex Munditiis
Still to be neat, still to be drest,As you were going to a feast;Still to be powder’d, still perfumed:Lady, it is to be presumed,Though art’s hid causes are not found,All is not sweet, all is not sound.
Give me a look, give me a faceThat makes simplicity a grace;Robes loosely flowing, hair as free:Such sweet neglect more taketh meThan all th’ adulteries of art;They strike mine eyes, but not my heart.
About this text
Simplex Munditiis 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, Simplex Munditiis, in Poems (1573–1637), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-ben-jonson/simplex-munditiis.html, id L16007.
Form and metre
Simplex Munditiis is 12 lines in 2 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABBCC. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 17% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic 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 AABBCC drestA · feastA · perfumedB · presumedB · foundC · soundC
- 2 AABBCC faceA · graceA · freeB · meB · artC · heartC
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Still to be neat, still to be drest, | 8 | ········ |
| As you were going to a feast; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Still to be powder’d, still perfumed: | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Lady, it is to be presumed, | 8 | /˘····˘/ |
| Though art’s hid causes are not found, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| All is not sweet, all is not sound. | 8 | ········ |
| Give me a look, give me a face | 8 | ········ |
| That makes simplicity a grace; | 8 | ··˘/˘˘·· |
| Robes loosely flowing, hair as free: | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Such sweet neglect more taketh me | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Than all th’ adulteries of art; | 8 | ··˘/˘˘·· |
| They strike mine eyes, but not my heart. | 8 | ········ |
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.