Song to a Serenader in February
Dear minstrel, the dangers are not to be toldOf those strains which have trebly undone me,--A victim to pity, to love, and to cold,I’ll be dead by the time thou hast won me!
Oh! think for a moment--whoever thou art,On the woes that beset me together,--If thou wilt not consider the state of my heart,Oh! think of the state of the weather.
How keenly around me the night breezes blow,--How sweetly thy parting note lingers,--Ah! would that the glow of my heart could bestowA share of its warmth to--my fingers!
But though she who would watch while the nightingales singShould scorn to let cold overcome her,--Though, like other sweet birds, you begin in the Spring,I can’t fall in love till the Summer.
Words in this poem
- trebly adv.
- In a treble manner; with a threefold number or quantity; triply.
- undone a.
- Not done or performed; neglected. [Pref. un- not + done.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- keenly adv.
- In a keen manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Song to a Serenader in February is in the public domain. This text is taken from The poems of Winthrop Mackworth Praed. [selected], Project Gutenberg ebook #71008; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Winthrop Mackworth Praed, Song to a Serenader in February, in Poems (1820–1839), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #71008, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/praed-poems/song-to-a-serenader-in-february.html, id L10194.
Form and metre
Song to a Serenader in February is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 80% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in anapaestic common 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 toldA · meB · coldA · meB
- 2 ABAB artA · togetherB · heartA · weatherB
- 3 ABAB blowA · lingersB · bestowA · fingersB
- 4 A-A- singA · her · springA · summer
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 anapaestic common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Dear minstrel, the dangers are not to be told | 11 | ·/˘·/˘····· |
| Of those strains which have trebly undone me,-- | 10 | ·····/˘˘/· |
| A victim to pity, to love, and to cold, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘····· |
| I’ll be dead by the time thou hast won me! | 10 | ·········· |
| Oh! think for a moment--whoever thou art, | 11 | ····/˘˘/˘·· |
| On the woes that beset me together,-- | 10 | ····˘/·˘/˘ |
| If thou wilt not consider the state of my heart, | 12 | ····˘/˘····· |
| Oh! think of the state of the weather. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| How keenly around me the night breezes blow,-- | 11 | ·/˘·····/˘· |
| How sweetly thy parting note lingers,-- | 9 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| Ah! would that the glow of my heart could bestow | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| A share of its warmth to--my fingers! | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| But though she who would watch while the nightingales sing | 11 | ········/˘· |
| Should scorn to let cold overcome her,-- | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Though, like other sweet birds, you begin in the Spring, | 12 | ··/˘···˘/··· |
| I can’t fall in love till the Summer. | 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.