Falsehood
Still do the stars impart their lightTo those that travel in the night;Still time runs on, nor doth the handOr shadow on the dial stand;The streams still glide and constant are:Only thy mindUntrue I find,Which carelesslyNeglects to beLike stream or shadow, hand or star.
Fool that I am! I do recallMy words, and swear thou’rt like them all,Thou seem’st like stars to nourish fire,But O how cold is thy desire!And like the hand upon the brassThou point’st at meIn mockery;If I come nighShade-like thou’lt fly,And as the stream with murmur pass.
About this text
Falsehood 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 Cartwright, Falsehood, in Poems (1611–1643), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-william-cartwright/falsehood.html, id L16092.
Form and metre
Falsehood is 20 lines in 2 stanzas of 10 lines each. 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 6.5 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 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 AABBCDD--C lightA · nightA · handB · standB · areC · mindD · findD · carelessly · be · starC
- 2 AABBCD-DDC recallA · allA · fireB · desireB · brassC · meD · mockery · nighD · flyD · passC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Still do the stars impart their light | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| To those that travel in the night; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Still time runs on, nor doth the hand | 8 | ········ |
| Or shadow on the dial stand; | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| The streams still glide and constant are: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Only thy mind | 4 | /˘·· |
| Untrue I find, | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Which carelessly | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| Neglects to be | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Like stream or shadow, hand or star. | 8 | ···/···· |
| Fool that I am! I do recall | 8 | ······/· |
| My words, and swear thou’rt like them all, | 8 | ········ |
| Thou seem’st like stars to nourish fire, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| But O how cold is thy desire! | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| And like the hand upon the brass | 8 | ········ |
| Thou point’st at me | 4 | ···· |
| In mockery; | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| If I come nigh | 4 | ···· |
| Shade-like thou’lt fly, | 4 | ···· |
| And as the stream with murmur pass. | 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.