Cupid Drowned
“Cupid Drowned” (1784-1859), “Cupid Stung” (1779-1852), and “Cupid andMy Campasbe” (1558-1606) are three dainty poems recommended by Mrs.Margaret Mooney, of the Albany Teachers’ College, in her “FoundationStudies in Literature.” Children are always delighted with them.
T’other day as I was twiningRoses, for a crown to dine in,What, of all things, ’mid the heap,Should I light on, fast asleep,But the little desperate elf,The tiny traitor, Love, himself!By the wings I picked him upLike a bee, and in a cupOf my wine I plunged and sank him,Then what d’ye think I did?--I drank him.Faith, I thought him dead. Not he!There he lives with tenfold glee;And now this moment with his wingsI feel him tickling my heart-strings.
Words in this poem
- cupid
- The god of love, son of Venus; usually represented as a naked, winged boy with bow and arrow. [L.Cupido, fr. cupido desire, desire of love, fr. cupidus. See Cupidity.]
- dainty n.
- Value; estimation; the gratification or pleasure taken in anything. [OE. deinie, dainte, deintie, deyntee, OF. deintié delicacy, orig., dignity, honor, fr. L. dignitas, fr. dignus worthy. See Deign, and cf. Dignity.]
- delighted a.
- Endowed with delight.
- dine v. i.
- To eat the principal regular meal of the day; to take dinner. [F. dîner, OF. disner, LL. disnare, contr. fr. an assumed disjunare; dis- + an assumed junare (OF. juner) to fast, for L. jejunare, fr. jejunus fasting. See Jeju]
- desperate a.
- Without hope; given to despair; hopeless. [L. desperatus, p. p. of desperare. See Despair, and cf. Desperado.]
- drank n.
- Wild oats, or darnel grass. See Drake a plant. [Cf. 3d Drake.]
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Cupid Drowned is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Every Child Should Know The What-Every-Child-Should-Know-Library, Project Gutenberg ebook #16436; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Mary E. Burt, Cupid Drowned, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/cupid-drowned.html, id L25288.
Form and metre
Cupid Drowned is 18 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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.
- 2 --AABBCCDDEEFF twining · in · heapA · asleepA · elfB · himselfB · upC · cupC · himD · himD · heE · gleeE · wingsF · stringsF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “Cupid Drowned” (1784-1859), “Cupid Stung” (1779-1852), and “Cupid and | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| My Campasbe” (1558-1606) are three dainty poems recommended by Mrs. | 16 | ·····/˘/˘·˘/˘·/˘ |
| Margaret Mooney, of the Albany Teachers’ College, in her “Foundation | 17 | /˘/˘··/˘/˘/˘··˘/˘ |
| Studies in Literature.” Children are always delighted with them. | 15 | /˘·/˘/˘·/·˘/˘·· |
| T’other day as I was twining | 9 | ˘/˘····/˘ |
| Roses, for a crown to dine in, | 8 | /˘······ |
| What, of all things, ’mid the heap, | 7 | ······· |
| Should I light on, fast asleep, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| But the little desperate elf, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| The tiny traitor, Love, himself! | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| By the wings I picked him up | 8 | ·····˘·· |
| Like a bee, and in a cup | 7 | ······· |
| Of my wine I plunged and sank him, | 8 | ········ |
| Then what d’ye think I did?--I drank him. | 9 | ········· |
| Faith, I thought him dead. Not he! | 7 | ······· |
| There he lives with tenfold glee; | 7 | ····/·· |
| And now this moment with his wings | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I feel him tickling my heart-strings. | 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.