The Lover’s Resolution
Shall I, wasting in despair,Die because a woman’s fair?Or make pale my cheeks with care’Cause another’s rosy are?Be she fairer than the day,Or the flow’ry meads in May,If she think not well of me,What care I how fair she be?
Shall my silly heart be pined’Cause I see a woman kind?Or a well disposèd natureJoinèd with a lovely feature?Be she meeker, kinder, thanTurtle-dove or pelican,If she be not so to me,What care I how kind she be?
Shall a woman’s virtues moveMe to perish for her love?Or her well-deservings knownMake me quite forget my own?Be she with that goodness blestWhich may merit name of Best,If she be not such to me,What care I how good she be?
’Cause her fortune seems too high,Shall I play the fool and die?She that bears a noble mind,If not outward helps she find,Thinks what with them he would doThat without them dares her woo;And unless that mind I see,What care I how great she be?
Great, or good, or kind, or fair,I will ne’er the more despair;If she love me, this believe,I will die ere she shall grieve;If she slight me when I woo,I can scorn and let her go;For if she be not for me,What care I for whom she be?
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Lover’s Resolution 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 Wither, The Lover’s Resolution, in Poems (1588–1667), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-george-wither/the-lovers-resolution.html, id L16048.
Form and metre
The Lover’s Resolution is 40 lines in 5 stanzas of 8 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 85% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 20% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AAA-BBCC despairA · fairA · careA · are · dayB · mayB · meC · beC
- 2 AA--BBCC pinedA · kindA · nature · feature · thanB · pelicanB · meC · beC
- 3 AABBCCDD moveA · loveA · knownB · ownB · blestC · bestC · meD · beD
- 4 AABBCCDD highA · dieA · mindB · findB · doC · wooC · seeD · beD
- 5 AABB--CC fairA · despairA · believeB · grieveB · woo · go · meC · beC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Shall I, wasting in despair, | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Die because a woman’s fair? | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Or make pale my cheeks with care | 7 | ······· |
| ’Cause another’s rosy are? | 7 | ·˘/˘/˘· |
| Be she fairer than the day, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Or the flow’ry meads in May, | 7 | ······· |
| If she think not well of me, | 7 | ······· |
| What care I how fair she be? | 7 | ······· |
| Shall my silly heart be pined | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| ’Cause I see a woman kind? | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Or a well disposèd nature | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Joinèd with a lovely feature? | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Be she meeker, kinder, than | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Turtle-dove or pelican, | 7 | /˘··/˘˘ |
| If she be not so to me, | 7 | ······· |
| What care I how kind she be? | 7 | ······· |
| Shall a woman’s virtues move | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Me to perish for her love? | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Or her well-deservings known | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Make me quite forget my own? | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Be she with that goodness blest | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Which may merit name of Best, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| If she be not such to me, | 7 | ······· |
| What care I how good she be? | 7 | ······· |
| ’Cause her fortune seems too high, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Shall I play the fool and die? | 7 | ······· |
| She that bears a noble mind, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| If not outward helps she find, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Thinks what with them he would do | 7 | ······· |
| That without them dares her woo; | 7 | ······· |
| And unless that mind I see, | 7 | ······· |
| What care I how great she be? | 7 | ······· |
| Great, or good, or kind, or fair, | 7 | ······· |
| I will ne’er the more despair; | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| If she love me, this believe, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| I will die ere she shall grieve; | 7 | ······· |
| If she slight me when I woo, | 7 | ······· |
| I can scorn and let her go; | 7 | ······· |
| For if she be not for me, | 7 | ······· |
| What care I for whom she be? | 7 | ······· |
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