Poems
Let us drink and be merry, dance, joke, and rejoice,With claret and sherry, theorbo and voice!The changeable world to our joy is unjust,All treasure’s uncertain,Then down with your dust!In frolics dispose your pounds, shillings, and pence,For we shall be nothing a hundred years hence.
We’ll sport and be free with Moll, Betty, and Dolly,Have oysters and lobsters to cure melancholy:Fish-dinners will make a man spring like a flea,Dame Venus, love’s lady,Was born of the sea;With her and with Bacchus we’ll tickle the sense,For we shall be past it a hundred years hence.
Your most beautiful bride who with garlands is crown’dAnd kills with each glance as she treads on the ground,Whose lightness and brightness doth shine in such splendourThat none but the starsAre thought fit to attend her,Though now she be pleasant and sweet to the sense,Will be damnable mouldy a hundred years hence.
Then why should we turmoil in cares and in fears,Turn all our tranquill’ty to sighs and to tears?Let’s eat, drink, and play till the worms do corrupt us,’Tis certain, Post mortemNulla voluptas.For health, wealth and beauty, wit, learning and sense,Must all come to nothing a hundred years hence.
Words in this poem
- claret n.
- The name firat given in England to the red wines of M [OE. claret, clare, clarry, OF. claret, clar, fr. cler, F. clair, clear, fr. L. clarus clear. See Clear.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- moll a.
- Minor; in the minor mode; as, A moll, that is, A minor. [G., fr. L. mollis soft, tender, elegiac. Cf. Molle.]
- betty n.
- Etym: [Supposed to be a cant word, from Betty, for Elizabeth, as such an instrument is also called Bess (i. e., Elizabeth) in the Canting Dictionary of 1725, and Jenny (i. e., Jane).]
- dolly n.
- A contrivance, turning on a vertical axis by a handle or winch, and giving a circular motion to the ore to be washed; a stirrer.
- dame n.
- A mistress of a family, who is a lady; a womam in authority; especially, a lady. [F. dame, LL. domna, fr. L. domina mistress, lady, fem. of dominus master, ruler, lord; akin to domare to tame, subdue. See Tame, and cf. Dam mother, Dan, Danger]
- tickle a.
- Ticklish; easily tickled.
- splendour n.
- Great brightness; brilliant luster; brilliancy; as, the splendor ot the sun. B. Jonson. [L. fr. splendere to shine: cf. F. splendeur.]
- damnable a.
- Liable to damnation; deserving, or for which one deserves, to be damned; of a damning nature. [L. damnabilis, fr. damnare: cf. F. damnable. See Damn.]
- mouldy a.
- Overgrown with, or containing, mold; as, moldy cheese or bread. [From Mold the growth of fungi.]
- turmoil v. t.
- To harass with commotion; to disquiet; to worry.
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
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: Thomas Jordan, Poems, (1612–1685), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-thomas-jordan/coronemus-nos-rosis-antequam-marcescant.html, id L16096.
Form and metre
Coronemus nos Rosis antequam marcescant is 28 lines in 4 stanzas of 7 lines each. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 78% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in anapaestic 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 AAB-BCC rejoiceA · voiceA · unjustB · uncertain · dustB · penceC · henceC
- 2 AAB-BCC dollyA · melancholyA · fleaB · lady · seaB · senseC · henceC
- 3 AA---BB crown'dA · groundA · splendour · stars · her · senseB · henceB
- 4 AA---BB fearsA · tearsA · us · mortem · voluptas · senseB · henceB
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Let us drink and be merry, dance, joke, and rejoice, | 12 | ·····/˘···˘/ |
| With claret and sherry, theorbo and voice! | 11 | ·/˘·/˘˘/˘·· |
| The changeable world to our joy is unjust, | 12 | ·/˘˘··/˘··˘/ |
| All treasure’s uncertain, | 6 | ·/˘˘/˘ |
| Then down with your dust! | 5 | ····· |
| In frolics dispose your pounds, shillings, and pence, | 11 | ·/˘˘/··/˘·· |
| For we shall be nothing a hundred years hence. | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| We’ll sport and be free with Moll, Betty, and Dolly, | 12 | ·······/˘·/˘ |
| Have oysters and lobsters to cure melancholy: | 12 | ·/˘·/˘··/˘·˘ |
| Fish-dinners will make a man spring like a flea, | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| Dame Venus, love’s lady, | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| Was born of the sea; | 5 | ····· |
| With her and with Bacchus we’ll tickle the sense, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| For we shall be past it a hundred years hence. | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Your most beautiful bride who with garlands is crown’d | 12 | ··/˘˘···/˘·· |
| And kills with each glance as she treads on the ground, | 11 | ··········· |
| Whose lightness and brightness doth shine in such splendour | 12 | ·/˘·/˘····/˘ |
| That none but the stars | 5 | ····· |
| Are thought fit to attend her, | 7 | ····˘/· |
| Though now she be pleasant and sweet to the sense, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| Will be damnable mouldy a hundred years hence. | 12 | ··/˘˘/˘·/˘·· |
| Then why should we turmoil in cares and in fears, | 11 | ····/······ |
| Turn all our tranquill’ty to sighs and to tears? | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| Let’s eat, drink, and play till the worms do corrupt us, | 12 | ·········˘/· |
| ’Tis certain, Post mortem | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| Nulla voluptas. | 5 | ····· |
| For health, wealth and beauty, wit, learning and sense, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| Must all come to nothing a hundred years hence. | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
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.