To Manon, on his Fortune in loving Her
I did not choose thee, dearest. It was LoveThat made the choice, not I. Mine eyes were blindAs a rude shepherd’s who to some lone groveHis offering brings and cares not at what shrineHe bends his knee. The gifts alone were mine;The rest was Love’s. He took me by the hand,And fired the sacrifice, and poured the wine,And spoke the words I might not understand.I was unwise in all but the dear chanceWhich was my fortune, and the blind desireWhich led my foolish steps to Love’s abode,And youth’s sublime unreason’d prescienceWhich raised an altar and inscribed in fireIts dedication _To the Unknown God_.
Words in this poem
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- abode n.
- Act of waiting; delay. [OE. abad, abood, fr. abiden to abide. See Abide. For the change of vowel, cf. abode, imp. of abide.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Manon, on his Fortune in loving Her 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: Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, To Manon, on his Fortune in loving Her, in Poems, text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-wilfrid-scawen-blunt/to-manon-on-his-fortune-in-loving-her.html, id L16259.
Form and metre
To Manon, on his Fortune in loving Her is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 57% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ---AABABCD-CD- love · blind · grove · shrineA · mineA · handB · wineA · understandB · chanceC · desireD · abode · prescienceC · fireD · god
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I did not choose thee, dearest. It was Love | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| That made the choice, not I. Mine eyes were blind | 10 | ·········· |
| As a rude shepherd’s who to some lone grove | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| His offering brings and cares not at what shrine | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| He bends his knee. The gifts alone were mine; | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| The rest was Love’s. He took me by the hand, | 10 | ·········· |
| And fired the sacrifice, and poured the wine, | 10 | ·/·/˘····· |
| And spoke the words I might not understand. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| I was unwise in all but the dear chance | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Which was my fortune, and the blind desire | 11 | ···/˘···˘/˘ |
| Which led my foolish steps to Love’s abode, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| And youth’s sublime unreason’d prescience | 10 | ··˘/···/˘˘ |
| Which raised an altar and inscribed in fire | 11 | ···/˘·˘/·/˘ |
| Its dedication _To the Unknown God_. | 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.