To Celia
Not, Celia, that I juster amOr better than the rest!For I would change each hour, like them,Were not my heart at rest.
But I am tied to very theeBy every thought I have;Thy face I only care to see,Thy heart I only crave.
All that in woman is adoredIn thy dear self I find--For the whole sex can but affordThe handsome and the kind.
Why then should I seek further store,And still make love anew?When change itself can give no more,’Tis easy to be true!
Words in this poem
- crave v. t.
- To ask with earnestness or importunity; to ask with submission or humility; to beg; to entreat; to beseech; to implore. [AS. crafian; akin to Icel. krefia, Sw. kr, Dan. kr.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Celia 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: Sir Charles Sedley, To Celia, in Poems (1639–1701), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-sir-charles-sedley/to-celia.html, id L16129.
Form and metre
To Celia is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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 ABAB amA · restB · themA · restB
- 2 ABAB theeA · haveB · seeA · craveB
- 3 ABAB adoredA · findB · affordA · kindB
- 4 ABAB storeA · anewB · moreA · trueB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Not, Celia, that I juster am | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Or better than the rest! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| For I would change each hour, like them, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Were not my heart at rest. | 6 | ······ |
| But I am tied to very thee | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| By every thought I have; | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| Thy face I only care to see, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Thy heart I only crave. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| All that in woman is adored | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| In thy dear self I find-- | 6 | ······ |
| For the whole sex can but afford | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The handsome and the kind. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Why then should I seek further store, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And still make love anew? | 6 | ····˘/ |
| When change itself can give no more, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| ’Tis easy to be true! | 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.