The Sirens’ Song
Steer, hither steer your wingèd pines,All beaten mariners!Here lie Love’s undiscover’d mines,A prey to passengers--Perfumes far sweeter than the bestWhich make the Phœnix’ urn and nest.Fear not your ships,Nor any to oppose you save our lips;But come on shore,Where no joy dies till Love hath gotten more.
For swelling waves our panting breasts,Where never storms arise,Exchange, and be awhile our guests:For stars gaze on our eyes.The compass Love shall hourly sing,And as he goes about the ring,We will not missTo tell each point he nameth with a kiss.--Then come on shore,Where no joy dies till Love hath gotten more.
Words in this poem
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
- 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,]
- hourly a.
- Happening or done every hour; occurring hour by hour; frequent; often repeated; renewed hour by hour; continual.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Sirens’ 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: William Browne, of Tavistock, The Sirens’ Song, in Poems (1588–1643), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-william-browne-of-tavistock/the-sirens-song.html, id L16052.
Form and metre
The Sirens’ Song is 20 lines in 2 stanzas of 10 lines each. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter. 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.3 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 10% 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-BBCCDD pinesA · mariners · minesA · passengers · bestB · nestB · shipsC · lipsC · shoreD · moreD
- 2 ABABCCDDEE breastsA · ariseB · guestsA · eyesB · singC · ringC · missD · kissD · shoreE · moreE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Steer, hither steer your wingèd pines, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| All beaten mariners! | 6 | ·/˘/˘˘ |
| Here lie Love’s undiscover’d mines, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| A prey to passengers-- | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Perfumes far sweeter than the best | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| Which make the Phœnix’ urn and nest. | 8 | ········ |
| Fear not your ships, | 4 | ···· |
| Nor any to oppose you save our lips; | 11 | ·/˘·˘/··/˘· |
| But come on shore, | 4 | ···· |
| Where no joy dies till Love hath gotten more. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| For swelling waves our panting breasts, | 9 | ·/˘·/˘/˘· |
| Where never storms arise, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Exchange, and be awhile our guests: | 9 | ˘/··˘//˘· |
| For stars gaze on our eyes. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| The compass Love shall hourly sing, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And as he goes about the ring, | 8 | ········ |
| We will not miss | 4 | ···· |
| To tell each point he nameth with a kiss. | 10 | ·········· |
| --Then come on shore, | 4 | ···· |
| Where no joy dies till Love hath gotten more. | 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.