Ballad XIII: Winifreda
This beautiful address to conjugal love, a subject too much neglectedby the libertine Muses, was, I believe, first printed in a volume ofMiscellaneous Poems, by several hands, published by D.Lewis, 1726, 8vo.
Away; let nought to love displeasing,My Winifreda, move your care;Let nought delay the heavenly blessing,Nor squeamish pride, nor gloomy fear.
What tho' no grants of royal donorsWith pompous titles grace our blood;We'll shine in more substantial honors,And to be noble we'll be good.
Our name, while virtue thus we tender,Will sweetly sound where-e'er 'tis spoke:And all the great ones, they shall wonderHow they respect such little folk.
What though from fortune's lavish bountyNo mighty treasures we possess;We'll find within our pittance plenty,And be content without excess.
Still shall each returning seasonSufficient for our wishes give;For we will live a life of reason,And that's the only life to live.
Through youth and age in love excelling,We'll hand in hand together tread;Sweet-smiling peace shall crown our dwelling,And babes, sweet-smiling babes, our bed.
How should I love the pretty creatures,While round my knees they fondly clung;To see them look their mothers features,To hear them lisp their mothers tongue.
And when with envy time transported,Shall think to rob us of our joys,You'll in your girls again be courted,And I'll go a wooing in my boys.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- 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,]
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- bounty n.
- Goodness, kindness; virtue; worth. [OE. bounte goodness, kindness, F. bonté, fr. L. bonitas, fr. bonus good, for older duonus; cf. Skr. duvas honor, respect.]
- pittance n.
- An allowance of food bestowed in charity; a mess of victuals; hence, a small charity gift; a dole. [OE. pitance, pitaunce, F. pitance; cf. It. pietanza, LL. pitancia, pittantia, pictantia; perh. fr. L. pietas pity, piety, or perhaps akin to E. petty. Cf. Petty]
- fondly adv.
- Foolishly. Verstegan (1673).
- clung a.
- Wasted away; shrunken. [Prop. p. p. fr. OE. clingen to wither. See Cling, v. i.]
- lisp v. i.
- To pronounce the sibilant letter s imperfectly; to give s and z the sound of th; -- a defect common among children. [OE. lispen, lipsen, AS. wlisp stammering, lisping; akin to D. & OHG. lispen to lisp, G. lispeln, Sw. läspa, Dan. lespe.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ballad XIII: Winifreda is in the public domain. This text is taken from Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, Volume 1 (of 3) Consisting of Old Heroic Ballads, Songs and Other Pieces of Our Earlier Poets Together With Some Few of Later Date, Project Gutenberg ebook #45939; 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 Percy, Ballad XIII: Winifreda, in Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, Volume I (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #45939, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/percy-reliques/ballad-xiii-winifreda.html, id L08559.
Form and metre
Ballad XIII: Winifreda is 36 lines in 9 stanzas of 4 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABAB, in 3 of the 9 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.0 syllables. 17 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 17% 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.
- 2 -A-A displeasing · careA · blessing · fearA
- 3 -A-A donors · bloodA · honors · goodA
- 4 -A-A tender · spokeA · wonder · folkA
- 5 -A-A bounty · possessA · plenty · excessA
- 6 ABAB seasonA · giveB · reasonA · liveB
- 7 ABAB excellingA · treadB · dwellingA · bedB
- 8 ABAB creaturesA · clungB · featuresA · tongueB
- 9 -A-A transported · joysA · courted · boysA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| This beautiful address to conjugal love, a subject too much neglected | 17 | ·/˘/··/˘··˘/··˘/˘ |
| by the libertine Muses, was, I believe, first printed in a volume of | 19 | ··/˘·/˘··˘/·/˘··/˘· |
| Miscellaneous Poems, by several hands, published by D. | 14 | ·˘/˘/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| Lewis, 1726, 8vo. | 3 | /˘· |
| Away; let nought to love displeasing, | 9 | ˘/····˘/˘ |
| My Winifreda, move your care; | 8 | ········ |
| Let nought delay the heavenly blessing, | 9 | ··˘/·/˘/˘ |
| Nor squeamish pride, nor gloomy fear. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| What tho' no grants of royal donors | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| With pompous titles grace our blood; | 8 | ·/˘/˘·/· |
| We'll shine in more substantial honors, | 9 | ····˘/˘/˘ |
| And to be noble we'll be good. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Our name, while virtue thus we tender, | 9 | /··/˘··/˘ |
| Will sweetly sound where-e'er 'tis spoke: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And all the great ones, they shall wonder | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| How they respect such little folk. | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| What though from fortune's lavish bounty | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| No mighty treasures we possess; | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| We'll find within our pittance plenty, | 9 | ····//˘/˘ |
| And be content without excess. | 8 | ··/˘··/· |
| Still shall each returning season | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| Sufficient for our wishes give; | 8 | ˘/˘·//˘· |
| For we will live a life of reason, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And that's the only life to live. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Through youth and age in love excelling, | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| We'll hand in hand together tread; | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Sweet-smiling peace shall crown our dwelling, | 9 | ·/˘···//˘ |
| And babes, sweet-smiling babes, our bed. | 8 | ···/˘·/· |
| How should I love the pretty creatures, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| While round my knees they fondly clung; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To see them look their mothers features, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| To hear them lisp their mothers tongue. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And when with envy time transported, | 9 | ···/˘·˘/˘ |
| Shall think to rob us of our joys, | 8 | ······/· |
| You'll in your girls again be courted, | 9 | ····˘/·/˘ |
| And I'll go a wooing in my boys. | 9 | ····/˘··· |
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.