The Message
Ye little birds that sit and singAmidst the shady valleys,And see how Phillis sweetly walksWithin her garden-alleys;Go, pretty birds, about her bower;Sing, pretty birds, she may not lower;Ah me! methinks I see her frown!Ye pretty wantons, warble.
Go tell her through your chirping bills,As you by me are bidden,To her is only known my love,Which from the world is hidden.Go, pretty birds, and tell her so,See that your notes strain not too low.For still methinks I see her frown;Ye pretty wantons, warble.
Go tune your voices’ harmonyAnd sing, I am her lover;Strain loud and sweet, that every noteWith sweet content may move her:And she that hath the sweetest voice,Tell her I will not change my choice:--Yet still methinks I see her frown!Ye pretty wantons, warble.
O fly! make haste! see, see, she fallsInto a pretty slumber!Sing round about her rosy bedThat waking she may wonder:Say to her, ’tis her lover trueThat sendeth love to you, to you!And when you hear her kind reply,Return with pleasant warblings.
Words in this poem
- amidst prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- methinks v.
- It seems to me; I think. See Me. [AS. þyncan to seem, me þynceedh, me þuhte, OE. me thinketh, me thoughte; akin to G. dünken to seem, denken to think, and E. think. See Me, and Think.]
- warble v. t.
- To sing in a trilling, quavering, or vibratory manner; to modulate with turns or variations; to trill; as, certain birds are remarkable for warbling their songs. [OE. werbelen, OF. werbler; of Teutonic origin; cf. G. wirbeln to turn, to warble, D. wervelen, akin to E. whirl. See Whirl.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Message 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 Heywood, The Message, in Poems (1650), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-thomas-heywood/the-message.html, id L16019.
Form and metre
The Message is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.7 syllables. 14 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 22% 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---- sing · valleysA · walks · alleysA · bower · lower · frown · warble
- 2 ---ABBA- bills · bidden · love · hiddenA · soB · lowB · frownA · warble
- 3 ----AA-- harmony · lover · note · her · voiceA · choiceA · frown · warble
- 4 ----AA-- falls · slumber · bed · wonder · trueA · youA · reply · warblings
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ye little birds that sit and sing | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Amidst the shady valleys, | 7 | ˘/·/˘/˘ |
| And see how Phillis sweetly walks | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Within her garden-alleys; | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Go, pretty birds, about her bower; | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Sing, pretty birds, she may not lower; | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Ah me! methinks I see her frown! | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Ye pretty wantons, warble. | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| Go tell her through your chirping bills, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| As you by me are bidden, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| To her is only known my love, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Which from the world is hidden. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Go, pretty birds, and tell her so, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| See that your notes strain not too low. | 8 | ········ |
| For still methinks I see her frown; | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Ye pretty wantons, warble. | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| Go tune your voices’ harmony | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| And sing, I am her lover; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Strain loud and sweet, that every note | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With sweet content may move her: | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And she that hath the sweetest voice, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Tell her I will not change my choice: | 8 | ········ |
| --Yet still methinks I see her frown! | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Ye pretty wantons, warble. | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| O fly! make haste! see, see, she falls | 8 | ········ |
| Into a pretty slumber! | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Sing round about her rosy bed | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That waking she may wonder: | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Say to her, ’tis her lover true | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That sendeth love to you, to you! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And when you hear her kind reply, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Return with pleasant warblings. | 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.