Song
Ask me no more where Jove bestows,When June is past, the fading rose;For in your beauty’s orient deepThese flowers, as in their causes, sleep.
Ask me no more whither do strayThe golden atoms of the day;For in pure love heaven did prepareThose powders to enrich your hair.
Ask me no more whither doth hasteThe nightingale when May is past;For in your sweet dividing throatShe winters and keeps warm her note.
Ask me no more where those stars ’lightThat downwards fall in dead of nightFor in your eyes they sit, and thereFixèd become as in their sphere.
Ask me no more if east or westThe Phœnix builds her spicy nest;For unto you at last she flies,And in your fragrant bosom dies.
Words in this poem
- jove n.
- The chief divinity of the ancient Romans; Jupiter. [L. Jupiter, gen. Jovis, OL. Jovis, nom. & gen. for Djovis; akin to E. Tuesday. See Tuesday, and cf. Jupiter.]
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
- whither adv.
- To what place; -- used interrogatively; as, whither goest thou [OE. whider. AS. hwider; akin to E. where, who; cf. Goth. hvadre whither. See Who, and cf. Hither, Thither.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Song 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: Thomas Carew, Song, in Poems (1595–1639), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-thomas-carew/song.html, id L16071.
Form and metre
Song is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 4 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 45% 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 AABB bestowsA · roseA · deepB · sleepB
- 2 AABB strayA · dayA · prepareB · hairB
- 3 --AA haste · past · throatA · noteA
- 4 AABB lightA · nightA · thereB · sphereB
- 5 AABB westA · nestA · fliesB · diesB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ask me no more where Jove bestows, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| When June is past, the fading rose; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For in your beauty’s orient deep | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
| These flowers, as in their causes, sleep. | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| Ask me no more whither do stray | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| The golden atoms of the day; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| For in pure love heaven did prepare | 8 | ····/·˘/ |
| Those powders to enrich your hair. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Ask me no more whither doth haste | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| The nightingale when May is past; | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| For in your sweet dividing throat | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| She winters and keeps warm her note. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Ask me no more where those stars ’light | 8 | ········ |
| That downwards fall in dead of night | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| For in your eyes they sit, and there | 8 | ········ |
| Fixèd become as in their sphere. | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Ask me no more if east or west | 8 | ········ |
| The Phœnix builds her spicy nest; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For unto you at last she flies, | 8 | ········ |
| And in your fragrant bosom dies. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
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.