Poems
When Delia on the plain appears,Awed by a thousand tender fearsI would approach, but dare not move:Tell me, my heart, if this be love?
Whene’er she speaks, my ravish’d earNo other voice than hers can hear,No other wit but hers approve:Tell me, my heart, if this be love?
If she some other youth commend,Though I was once his fondest friend,His instant enemy I prove:Tell me, my heart, if this be love?
When she is absent, I no moreDelight in all that pleased before--The clearest spring, or shadiest grove:Tell me, my heart, if this be love?
When fond of power, of beauty vain,Her nets she spread for every swain,I strove to hate, but vainly strove:Tell me, my heart, if this be love?
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: George Lyttelton, Lord Lyttelton, Poems, (1709–1773), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-george-lyttelton-lord-lyttelton/tell-me-my-heart-if-this-be-love.html, id L16161.
Form and metre
Tell me, my Heart if this be Love is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 3 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 15% 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 AABB appearsA · fearsA · moveB · loveB
- 2 AABB earA · hearA · approveB · loveB
- 3 AABB commendA · friendA · proveB · loveB
- 4 AA-- moreA · beforeA · grove · love
- 5 AA-- vainA · swainA · strove · love
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 Delia on the plain appears, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Awed by a thousand tender fears | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| I would approach, but dare not move: | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Tell me, my heart, if this be love? | 8 | ········ |
| Whene’er she speaks, my ravish’d ear | 9 | ········· |
| No other voice than hers can hear, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| No other wit but hers approve: | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Tell me, my heart, if this be love? | 8 | ········ |
| If she some other youth commend, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Though I was once his fondest friend, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| His instant enemy I prove: | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| Tell me, my heart, if this be love? | 8 | ········ |
| When she is absent, I no more | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Delight in all that pleased before-- | 8 | ˘/······ |
| The clearest spring, or shadiest grove: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Tell me, my heart, if this be love? | 8 | ········ |
| When fond of power, of beauty vain, | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| Her nets she spread for every swain, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I strove to hate, but vainly strove: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Tell me, my heart, if this be love? | 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.