Poems
When, Cœlia, must my old day set,And my young morning riseIn beams of joy so bright as yetNe’er bless’d a lover’s eyes?My state is more advanced than whenI first attempted thee:I sued to be a servant then,But now to be made free.
I’ve served my time faithful and true,Expecting to be placedIn happy freedom, as my due,To all the joys thou hast:Ill husbandry in love is suchA scandal to love’s power,We ought not to misspend so muchAs one poor short-lived hour.
Yet think not, sweet, I’m weary grown.That I pretend such haste;Since none to surfeit e’er was knownBefore he had a taste:My infant love could humbly waitWhen, young, it scarce knew howTo plead; but grown to man’s estate,He is impatient now.
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- scandal n.
- Offense caused or experienced; reproach or reprobation called forth by what is regarded as wrong, criminal, heinous, or flagrant: opprobrium or disgrace. [F. scandale, fr. L. scandalum, Gr. scandle, OF. escandle. See Slander.]
- ought p. p.
- Was or were under obligation to pay; owed. [Orig. the preterit of the verb to owe. OE. oughte, aughte, ahte, AS. ahte. sq. root110. See Owe.]
- misspend v. t.
- To spend amiss or for wrong purposes; to aquander; to waste; as, to misspend time or money. J. Philips.
- humbly adv.
- With humility; lowly.
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Poems 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: Charles Cotton, Poems, (1630–1687), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-charles-cotton/to-clia.html, id L16116.
Form and metre
To Cœlia is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 99% 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. 38% 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 ABABCDCD setA · riseB · yetA · eyesB · whenC · theeD · thenC · freeD
- 2 A-A-BCBC trueA · placed · dueA · hast · suchB · powerC · muchB · hourC
- 3 ABABCDCD grownA · hasteB · knownA · tasteB · waitC · howD · estateC · nowD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When, Cœlia, must my old day set, | 8 | ········ |
| And my young morning rise | 6 | ···/˘· |
| In beams of joy so bright as yet | 8 | ········ |
| Ne’er bless’d a lover’s eyes? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| My state is more advanced than when | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| I first attempted thee: | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| I sued to be a servant then, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But now to be made free. | 6 | ······ |
| I’ve served my time faithful and true, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Expecting to be placed | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| In happy freedom, as my due, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| To all the joys thou hast: | 6 | ······ |
| Ill husbandry in love is such | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| A scandal to love’s power, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| We ought not to misspend so much | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| As one poor short-lived hour. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Yet think not, sweet, I’m weary grown. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That I pretend such haste; | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Since none to surfeit e’er was known | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Before he had a taste: | 6 | ······ |
| My infant love could humbly wait | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| When, young, it scarce knew how | 6 | ······ |
| To plead; but grown to man’s estate, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| He is impatient now. | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
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.