Polonius’ Advice
See thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,Nor any unproportion’d thought his act.Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar:The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;But do not dull thy palm with entertainmentOf each new-hatch’d, unfledg’d comrade. BewareOf entrance to a quarrel; but, being in,Bear ’t that th’ opposed may beware of thee.Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice:Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment.Costly thy habit as thy purse can buyBut not expressed in fancy; rich, not gaudy:For the apparel oft proclaims the man.Neither a borrower nor a lender be;For loan oft loses both itself and friend,And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.This above all: to thine own self be true;And it must follow, as the night the day,Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- beware v. t.
- To avoid; to take care of; to have a care for.
- borrower n.
- One who borrows.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Polonius’ Advice 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, Polonius’ Advice, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/polonius-advice.html, id L25319.
Form and metre
Polonius’ Advice is 20 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
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.
- 1 --------A--A-BA----B tongue · act · vulgar · tried · steel · entertainment · beware · in · theeA · voice · judgment · buyA · gaudy · manB · beA · friend · husbandry · true · day · manB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| See thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue, | 10 | ··/˘˘····· |
| Nor any unproportion’d thought his act. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar: | 11 | ··˘/˘····/˘ |
| The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel; | 10 | /˘········ |
| But do not dull thy palm with entertainment | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| Of each new-hatch’d, unfledg’d comrade. Beware | 10 | ······/·˘/ |
| Of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·/· |
| Bear ’t that th’ opposed may beware of thee. | 10 | ···˘/·˘/·· |
| Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice: | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment. | 11 | ···/˘·˘/·/˘ |
| Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| But not expressed in fancy; rich, not gaudy: | 11 | ··˘/·/˘··/˘ |
| For the apparel oft proclaims the man. | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/·· |
| Neither a borrower nor a lender be; | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| For loan oft loses both itself and friend, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. | 11 | ·/˘˘····/˘˘ |
| This above all: to thine own self be true; | 10 | ·········· |
| And it must follow, as the night the day, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Thou canst not then be false to any man. | 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.