The Shadow
Follow a shadow, it still flies you;Seem to fly it, it will pursue:So court a mistress, she denies you;Let her alone, she will court you.Say, are not women truly, then,Styled but the shadows of us men?
At morn and even, shades are longest;At noon they are or short or none:So men at weakest, they are strongest,But grant us perfect, they’re not known.Say, are not women truly, then,Styled but the shadows of us men?
Words in this poem
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Shadow 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, The Shadow, in Poems (1573–1637), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-ben-jonson/the-shadow.html, id L16008.
Form and metre
The Shadow is 12 lines in 2 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.3 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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 AAAABB youA · pursueA · youA · youA · thenB · menB
- 2 A-A-BB longestA · none · strongestA · known · thenB · menB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Follow a shadow, it still flies you; | 9 | /˘·/····· |
| Seem to fly it, it will pursue: | 8 | ······˘/ |
| So court a mistress, she denies you; | 9 | ···/˘·˘/· |
| Let her alone, she will court you. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Say, are not women truly, then, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Styled but the shadows of us men? | 8 | ···/···· |
| At morn and even, shades are longest; | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| At noon they are or short or none: | 8 | ········ |
| So men at weakest, they are strongest, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| But grant us perfect, they’re not known. | 8 | ···˘/··· |
| Say, are not women truly, then, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Styled but the shadows of us men? | 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.