Poems
In a harbour grene aslepe whereas I lay,The byrdes sang swete in the middes of the day,I dreamèd fast of mirth and play:In youth is pleasure, in youth is pleasure.
Methought I walked still to and fro,And from her company I could not go--But when I waked it was not so:In youth is pleasure, in youth is pleasure.
Therefore my hart is surely pyghtOf her alone to have a sightWhich is my joy and hartes delight:In youth is pleasure, in youth is pleasure.
Words in this poem
- harbour n.
- A station for rest and entertainment; a place of security and comfort; a refuge; a shelter. [OE herbor, herberwe, herberge, Icel. herbergi (cf. OHG. heriberga), orig., a shelter for soldiers; herr army + bjarga to save, help, defend; akin to AS. here ar]
- whereas adv.
- At which place; where.
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: Robert Wever, Poems, text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-robert-wever/in-youth-is-pleasure.html, id L15962.
Form and metre
In Youth is Pleasure is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 85% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.0 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 17% 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- layA · dayA · playA · pleasure
- 2 AAA- froA · goA · soA · pleasure
- 3 AAA- pyghtA · sightA · delightA · pleasure
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In a harbour grene aslepe whereas I lay, | 11 | ··/˘···˘/·· |
| The byrdes sang swete in the middes of the day, | 10 | ·········· |
| I dreamèd fast of mirth and play: | 7 | ······· |
| In youth is pleasure, in youth is pleasure. | 10 | ···/˘···/˘ |
| Methought I walked still to and fro, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| And from her company I could not go-- | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| But when I waked it was not so: | 8 | ········ |
| In youth is pleasure, in youth is pleasure. | 10 | ···/˘···/˘ |
| Therefore my hart is surely pyght | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of her alone to have a sight | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Which is my joy and hartes delight: | 8 | ······˘/ |
| In youth is pleasure, in youth is pleasure. | 10 | ···/˘···/˘ |
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.