Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, Volume I: Part III: Ballad II: The Aged Lover Renounceth Love
I loth that I did love,In youth that I thought swete,As time requires: for my behoveMe thinkes they are not mete.
My lustes they do me leave,My fansies all are fled;And tract of time begins to weaveGray heares upon my hed.
For Age with steling steps,Hath clawde me with his crowch,And lusty 'Youthe' awaye he leapes,As there had bene none such.
My muse doth not delightMe, as she did before:My hand and pen are not in plight,As they have bene of yore.
For Reason me denies,'All' youthly idle rime;And day by day to me she cries,Leave off these toyes in tyme.
The wrinkles in my brow,The furrowes in my faceSay, Limping age will 'lodge' him now,Where youth must geve him place.
The harbenger of death,To me I se him ride,The cough, the cold, the gasping breath,Doth bid me to provide
A pikeax and a spade,And eke a shrowding shete,A house of clay for to be madeFor such a guest most mete.
Me thinkes I heare the clarke,That knoles the carefull knell;And bids me leave my 'wearye' warke,Ere nature me compell.
My kepers knit the knot,That youth doth laugh to scorne,Of me that 'shall bee cleane' forgot,As I had 'ne'er' bene borne.
Thus must I youth geve up,Whose badge I long did weare:To them I yeld the wanton cup,That better may it beare.
Lo here the bared skull;By whose balde signe I know,That stouping age away shall pull'What' youthful yeres did sow.
For Beautie with her band,These croked cares had wrought,And shipped me into the land,From whence I first was brought.
And ye that bide behinde,Have ye none other trust:As ye of claye were cast by kinde,So shall ye 'turne' to dust.
V. 23. So Ed. 1583 'tis hedge in Ed. 1557. hath caught him,
Words in this poem
- behove v.
- , and derivatives. See Behoove, & c.
- mete v. i.
- To dream; also impersonally; as, me mette, I dreamed. [AS. m.]
- bene n.
- A prayer; boon. [AS. b.]
- plight v. t.
- To weave; to braid; to fold; to plait. [OE. pliten; probably through Old French, fr. LL. plectare, L. plectere. See Plait, Ply.]
- yore adv.
- In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
- youthly a.
- Young; youthful. [AS. geoguedhlic.]
- rime n.
- A rent or long aperture; a chink; a fissure; a crack. Sir T. [L. rima.]
- carefull a.
- Full of care; anxious; solicitous [AS. cearful.]
- compell v. t.
- To drive or urge with force, or irresistibly; to force; to constrain; to oblige; to necessitate, either by physical or moral force. [L. compellere, compilstum, to drive together, to compel, urge; com- + pellere to drive: cf. OF. compellir. See Pulse.]
- 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,]
- bide v. i.
- To dwell; to inhabit; to abide; to stay. [OE. biden, AS. bidan; akin to OHG. bitan, Goth. beidan, Icel. bi; perh. orig., to wait with trust, and akin to bid. See Bid, v. t., and cf. Abide.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, Volume I: Part III: Ballad II: The Aged Lover Renounceth Love 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, Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, Volume I: Part III: Ballad II: The Aged Lover Renounceth Love, in Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, Volume I (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #45939, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/percy-reliques/reliques-of-ancient-english-poetry-volume-i-part-iii-ballad-.html, id L18494.
Form and metre
Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, Volume I: Part III: Ballad II: The Aged Lover Renounceth Love is 57 lines in 15 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 10 of its 15 stanzas. The metre is short measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.6 syllables. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in short measure.
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 ABAB loveA · sweteB · behoveA · meteB
- 2 A-A- leaveA · fled · weaveA · hed
- 4 ABAB delightA · beforeB · plightA · yoreB
- 5 ABAB deniesA · rimeB · criesA · tymeB
- 6 ABAB browA · faceB · nowA · placeB
- 7 ABAB deathA · rideB · breathA · provideB
- 8 A-A- spadeA · shete · madeA · mete
- 9 ABAB clarkeA · knellB · warkeA · compellB
- 10 ABAB knotA · scorneB · forgotA · borneB
- 11 ABAB upA · weareB · cupA · beareB
- 12 -A-A skull · knowA · pull · sowA
- 13 ABAB bandA · wroughtB · landA · broughtB
- 14 ABAB behindeA · trustB · kindeA · dustB
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 short measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I loth that I did love, | 6 | ······ |
| In youth that I thought swete, | 6 | ······ |
| As time requires: for my behove | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| Me thinkes they are not mete. | 6 | ······ |
| My lustes they do me leave, | 6 | ······ |
| My fansies all are fled; | 5 | ····· |
| And tract of time begins to weave | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Gray heares upon my hed. | 6 | ······ |
| For Age with steling steps, | 6 | ······ |
| Hath clawde me with his crowch, | 6 | ······ |
| And lusty 'Youthe' awaye he leapes, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| As there had bene none such. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| My muse doth not delight | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Me, as she did before: | 6 | ······ |
| My hand and pen are not in plight, | 8 | ········ |
| As they have bene of yore. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| For Reason me denies, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| 'All' youthly idle rime; | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| And day by day to me she cries, | 8 | ········ |
| Leave off these toyes in tyme. | 6 | ······ |
| The wrinkles in my brow, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The furrowes in my face | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Say, Limping age will 'lodge' him now, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Where youth must geve him place. | 6 | ······ |
| The harbenger of death, | 6 | ······ |
| To me I se him ride, | 7 | ····/·· |
| The cough, the cold, the gasping breath, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Doth bid me to provide | 6 | ····˘/ |
| A pikeax and a spade, | 6 | ······ |
| And eke a shrowding shete, | 6 | ······ |
| A house of clay for to be made | 8 | ········ |
| For such a guest most mete. | 6 | ······ |
| Me thinkes I heare the clarke, | 6 | ······ |
| That knoles the carefull knell; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And bids me leave my 'wearye' warke, | 8 | ········ |
| Ere nature me compell. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| My kepers knit the knot, | 6 | ······ |
| That youth doth laugh to scorne, | 6 | ······ |
| Of me that 'shall bee cleane' forgot, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| As I had 'ne'er' bene borne. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Thus must I youth geve up, | 6 | ······ |
| Whose badge I long did weare: | 6 | ······ |
| To them I yeld the wanton cup, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That better may it beare. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Lo here the bared skull; | 5 | ····· |
| By whose balde signe I know, | 6 | ······ |
| That stouping age away shall pull | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| 'What' youthful yeres did sow. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| For Beautie with her band, | 6 | ······ |
| These croked cares had wrought, | 5 | ····· |
| And shipped me into the land, | 8 | ··˘····· |
| From whence I first was brought. | 6 | ······ |
| And ye that bide behinde, | 6 | ······ |
| Have ye none other trust: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| As ye of claye were cast by kinde, | 8 | ········ |
| So shall ye 'turne' to dust. | 6 | ······ |
| V. 23. So Ed. 1583 'tis hedge in Ed. 1557. hath caught him, | 10 | ·········· |
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