The Lye
Goe, soule, the bodie’s guest,Upon a thanklesse arrant;Feare not to touche the best--The truth shall be thy warrant!Goe, since I needs must dye,And give the world the lye.
Goe tell the court it glowesAnd shines like rotten wood;Goe tell the church it showesWhat’s good, and doth no good;If church and court reply,Then give them both the lye.
Tell potentates they liveActing by others’ actions--Not loved unlesse they give,Not strong but by their factions;If potentates reply,Give potentates the lye.
Tell men of high condition,That rule affairs of state,Their purpose is ambition,Their practice only hate;And if they once reply,Then give them all the lye.
Tell zeale it lacks devotion;Tell love it is but lust;Tell time it is but motion;Tell flesh it is but dust;And wish them not reply,For thou must give the lye.
Tell wit how much it wranglesIn tickle points of nicenesse;Tell wisdome she entanglesHerselfe in over-wisenesse;And if they do reply,Straight give them both the lye.
Tell physicke of her boldnesse;Tell skill it is pretension;Tell charity of coldnesse;Tell law it is contention;And as they yield reply,So give them still the lye.
Tell fortune of her blindnesse;Tell nature of decay;Tell friendship of unkindnesse;Tell justice of delay;And if they dare reply,Then give them all the lye.
Tell arts they have no soundnesse,But vary by esteeming;Tell schooles they want profoundnesse,And stand too much on seeming;If arts and schooles reply,Give arts and schooles the lye.
So, when thou hast, as ICommanded thee, done blabbing--Although to give the lyeDeserves no less than stabbing--Yet stab at thee who will,No stab the soule can kill.
Words in this poem
- arrant a.
- Notoriously or preëminently bad; thorough or downright, in a bad sense; shameless; unmitigated; as, an arrant rogue or coward. [OE. erraunt, errant, errand, equiv. to E. errant wandering, which was first applied to vagabonds, as an errant rogue, an errant thief, and hence passed graduall]
- 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,]
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- lust v. i.
- To list; to like. [AS. lystan. See Lust, n., and cf. List to choose.]
- tickle a.
- Ticklish; easily tickled.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Lye 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, The Lye, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/the-lye.html, id L25310.
Form and metre
The Lye is 60 lines in 10 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCC. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 ABABCC guestA · arrantB · bestA · warrantB · dyeC · lyeC
- 2 ABABCC glowesA · woodB · showesA · goodB · replyC · lyeC
- 3 ABABCC liveA · actionsB · giveA · factionsB · replyC · lyeC
- 4 ABABCC conditionA · stateB · ambitionA · hateB · replyC · lyeC
- 5 ABABCC devotionA · lustB · motionA · dustB · replyC · lyeC
- 6 ABABCC wranglesA · nicenesseB · entanglesA · wisenesseB · replyC · lyeC
- 7 ABABCC boldnesseA · pretensionB · coldnesseA · contentionB · replyC · lyeC
- 8 ABABCC blindnesseA · decayB · unkindnesseA · delayB · replyC · lyeC
- 9 ABABCC soundnesseA · esteemingB · profoundnesseA · seemingB · replyC · lyeC
- 10 ABABCC iA · blabbingB · lyeA · stabbingB · willC · killC
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Goe, soule, the bodie’s guest, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Upon a thanklesse arrant; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Feare not to touche the best-- | 6 | ······ |
| The truth shall be thy warrant! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Goe, since I needs must dye, | 6 | ······ |
| And give the world the lye. | 6 | ······ |
| Goe tell the court it glowes | 6 | ······ |
| And shines like rotten wood; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Goe tell the church it showes | 6 | ······ |
| What’s good, and doth no good; | 6 | ······ |
| If church and court reply, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Then give them both the lye. | 6 | ······ |
| Tell potentates they live | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Acting by others’ actions-- | 7 | /˘·/˘/˘ |
| Not loved unlesse they give, | 6 | ······ |
| Not strong but by their factions; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| If potentates reply, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Give potentates the lye. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Tell men of high condition, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| That rule affairs of state, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Their purpose is ambition, | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| Their practice only hate; | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| And if they once reply, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Then give them all the lye. | 6 | ······ |
| Tell zeale it lacks devotion; | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Tell love it is but lust; | 6 | ······ |
| Tell time it is but motion; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Tell flesh it is but dust; | 6 | ······ |
| And wish them not reply, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| For thou must give the lye. | 6 | ······ |
| Tell wit how much it wrangles | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| In tickle points of nicenesse; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Tell wisdome she entangles | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Herselfe in over-wisenesse; | 7 | ······· |
| And if they do reply, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Straight give them both the lye. | 6 | ······ |
| Tell physicke of her boldnesse; | 7 | ······· |
| Tell skill it is pretension; | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Tell charity of coldnesse; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Tell law it is contention; | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| And as they yield reply, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| So give them still the lye. | 6 | ······ |
| Tell fortune of her blindnesse; | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Tell nature of decay; | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Tell friendship of unkindnesse; | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Tell justice of delay; | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| And if they dare reply, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Then give them all the lye. | 6 | ······ |
| Tell arts they have no soundnesse, | 7 | ······· |
| But vary by esteeming; | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| Tell schooles they want profoundnesse, | 7 | ······· |
| And stand too much on seeming; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| If arts and schooles reply, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Give arts and schooles the lye. | 6 | ······ |
| So, when thou hast, as I | 6 | ······ |
| Commanded thee, done blabbing-- | 7 | ˘/˘···· |
| Although to give the lye | 6 | ······ |
| Deserves no less than stabbing-- | 7 | ˘/···/˘ |
| Yet stab at thee who will, | 6 | ······ |
| No stab the soule can kill. | 6 | ······ |
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