Complaint of the Absence of Her Lover being upon the Sea
O happy dames! that may embraceThe fruit of your delight,Help to bewail the woful caseAnd eke the heavy plightOf me, that wonted to rejoiceThe fortune of my pleasant choice:Good ladies, help to fill my mourning voice.
In ship, freight with rememberanceOf thoughts and pleasures past,He sails that hath in governanceMy life while it will last:With scalding sighs, for lack of gale,Furthering his hope, that is his sail,Toward me, the swete port of his avail,
Alas! how oft in dreams I seeThose eyes that were my food;Which sometime so delighted me,That yet they do me good:Wherewith I wake with his returnWhose absent flame did make me burn:But when I find the lack, Lord! how I mourn!
When other lovers in arms acrossRejoice their chief delight,Drownèd in tears, to mourn my lossI stand the bitter nightIn my window where I may seeBefore the winds how the clouds flee:Lo! what a mariner love hath made me!
And in green waves when the salt floodDoth rise by rage of wind,A thousand fancies in that moodAssail my restless mind.Alas! now drencheth my sweet foe,That with the spoil of my heart did go,And left me; but alas! why did he so?
And when the seas wax calm againTo chase fro me annoy,My doubtful hope doth cause me plain;So dread cuts off my joy.Thus is my wealth mingled with woeAnd of each thought a doubt doth grow;--Now he comes! Will he come? Alas! no, no.
Words in this poem
- woful a.
- Full of woe; sorrowful; distressed with grief or calamity; afflicted; wretched; unhappy; sad.
- plight v. t.
- To weave; to braid; to fold; to plait. [OE. pliten; probably through Old French, fr. LL. plectare, L. plectere. See Plait, Ply.]
- wonted a.
- Accustomed; customary; usual.
- governance n.
- Exercise of authority; control; government; arrangement. [F. gouvernance.]
- sometime adv.
- At a past time indefinitely referred to; once; formerly.
- delighted a.
- Endowed with delight.
- wherewith adv.
- With which; -- used relatively.
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Complaint of the Absence of Her Lover being upon the Sea 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: Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, Complaint of the Absence of Her Lover being upon the Sea, in Poems (1516–1547), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-henry-howard-earl-of-surrey/complaint-of-the-absence-of-her-lover-being-upon.html, id L15959.
Form and metre
Complaint of the Absence of Her Lover being upon the Sea is 42 lines in 6 stanzas of 7 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCCC, complete in 4 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 1 line ends 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 ABABCCC embraceA · delightB · caseA · plightB · rejoiceC · choiceC · voiceC
- 2 ABABCCC rememberanceA · pastB · governanceA · lastB · galeC · sailC · availC
- 3 A-A-BB- seeA · food · meA · good · returnB · burnB · mourn
- 4 ABABCCC acrossA · delightB · lossA · nightB · seeC · fleeC · meC
- 5 -A-ABBB flood · windA · mood · mindA · foeB · goB · soB
- 6 ABABCCC againA · annoyB · plainA · joyB · woeC · growC · noC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O happy dames! that may embrace | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The fruit of your delight, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Help to bewail the woful case | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| And eke the heavy plight | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Of me, that wonted to rejoice | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The fortune of my pleasant choice: | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Good ladies, help to fill my mourning voice. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| In ship, freight with rememberance | 8 | ········ |
| Of thoughts and pleasures past, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| He sails that hath in governance | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| My life while it will last: | 6 | ······ |
| With scalding sighs, for lack of gale, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Furthering his hope, that is his sail, | 9 | /˘˘······ |
| Toward me, the swete port of his avail, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Alas! how oft in dreams I see | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Those eyes that were my food; | 6 | ······ |
| Which sometime so delighted me, | 8 | ·/··˘/˘· |
| That yet they do me good: | 6 | ······ |
| Wherewith I wake with his return | 8 | ˘/····˘/ |
| Whose absent flame did make me burn: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But when I find the lack, Lord! how I mourn! | 10 | ·········· |
| When other lovers in arms across | 9 | ·/˘/˘··˘/ |
| Rejoice their chief delight, | 6 | ˘/··˘/ |
| Drownèd in tears, to mourn my loss | 7 | ······· |
| I stand the bitter night | 6 | ···/˘· |
| In my window where I may see | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Before the winds how the clouds flee: | 8 | ········ |
| Lo! what a mariner love hath made me! | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| And in green waves when the salt flood | 8 | ········ |
| Doth rise by rage of wind, | 6 | ······ |
| A thousand fancies in that mood | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Assail my restless mind. | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| Alas! now drencheth my sweet foe, | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| That with the spoil of my heart did go, | 9 | ········· |
| And left me; but alas! why did he so? | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| And when the seas wax calm again | 8 | ······˘/ |
| To chase fro me annoy, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| My doubtful hope doth cause me plain; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| So dread cuts off my joy. | 6 | ······ |
| Thus is my wealth mingled with woe | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| And of each thought a doubt doth grow; | 8 | ········ |
| --Now he comes! Will he come? Alas! no, no. | 10 | ······˘/·· |
Notes from the edition 1
Quiller-Couch's glosses on the hard words, from The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250–1900, chosen and edited by Arthur Quiller-Couch (Oxford, 1900; Project Gutenberg #66619)
- Stanza 1 _40._ drencheth] i.e. is drenched or drowned.
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