Poems
Forbear, bold youth; all’s heaven here,And what you do averTo others courtship may appear,’Tis sacrilege to her.She is a public deity;And were’t not very oddShe should dispose herself to beA petty household god?
First make the sun in private shineAnd bid the world adieu,That so he may his beams confineIn compliment to you:But if of that you do despair,Think how you did amissTo strive to fix her beams which areMore bright and large than his.
Words in this poem
- aver n.
- A work horse, or working ox. [OF. aver domestic animal, whence LL. averia, pl. cattle. See Habit, and cf. Average.]
- courtship n.
- The act of paying court, with the intent to solicit a favor.
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: Katherine Philips, Poems, (1631–1664), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-katherine-philips-orinda/to-one-persuading-a-lady-to-marriage.html, id L16117.
Form and metre
To One persuading a Lady to Marriage is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 95% 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. 44% 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 A-A--B-B hereA · aver · appearA · her · deity · oddB · be · godB
- 2 ABAB---- shineA · adieuB · confineA · youB · despair · amiss · are · his
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Forbear, bold youth; all’s heaven here, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| And what you do aver | 6 | ····/˘ |
| To others courtship may appear, | 8 | ·/˘/··˘/ |
| ’Tis sacrilege to her. | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| She is a public deity; | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| And were’t not very odd | 7 | ····/˘· |
| She should dispose herself to be | 8 | ··˘/˘/·· |
| A petty household god? | 6 | ·/˘/·· |
| First make the sun in private shine | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And bid the world adieu, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| That so he may his beams confine | 8 | ······˘/ |
| In compliment to you: | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| But if of that you do despair, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Think how you did amiss | 6 | ····˘/ |
| To strive to fix her beams which are | 8 | ········ |
| More bright and large than his. | 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.