Songs from the Troubadour (From Canto I.) (From Canto Ii.) (From Canto Iii.) V
Clotilda! many hearts are light,And many lips dissemble;But I am thine till priests shall fight,Or Cœur de Lion tremble!--Hath Jerome burned his rosary,Or Richard shrunk from slaughter?Oh! no, no,Dream not so!But till you mean your hopes to die,Engrave them not in water!
Sweet Ida, on my lonely wayThose tears I will remember,Till icicles shall cling to May,Or roses to December!--Are snow-wreaths bound on Summer’s brow?Is drowsy Winter waking?Oh! no, no,Dream not so!But lances, and a lover’s vow,Were only made for breaking.
Lenora, I am faithful still,By all the saints that listen,Till this warm heart shall cease to thrill,Or these wild veins to glisten!--This bosom,--is its pulse less high?Or sleeps the storm within it?Oh! no, no,Dream not so!But lovers find eternityIn less than half a minute.
And thus to thee I swear to-night,By thine own lips and tresses,That I will take no further flight,Nor break again my jesses:And wilt thou trust the faith I vowed,And dream in spite of warning?Oh! no, no,Dream not so!But go and lure the midnight cloud,Or chain the mist of morning.
These words of mine, so false and bland,Forget that they were spoken!The ring is on thy radiant hand,--Dash down the faithless token!And will they say that Beauty sinned,That Woman turned a rover?Oh! no, no,Dream not so!But lovers’ vows are like the wind--And Vidal is a Lover.
Words in this poem
- dissemble v. t.
- To hide under a false semblance or seeming; to feign (something) not to be what it really is; to put an untrue appearance upon; to disguise; to mask. [OF. dissembler to be dissimilar; pref. dis- (L. dis-) + F. sembler to seem, L. simulare to simulate; cf. L. dissimulare to dissemble. See Simulate, and cf. Diss]
- 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,]
- rosary n.
- A bed of roses, or place where roses grow. [LL. rosarium a string of beads, L. rosarium a place planted with roses, rosa a rose: cf. F. rosaire. See Rose.]
- engrave v. t.
- To deposit in the grave; to bury. [Pref. en- + grave a tomb. Cf. Engrave to carve.]
- rover n.
- One who practices robbery on the seas; a pirate. [D. roover a robber. See Rove, v. i.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Songs from the Troubadour (From Canto I.) (From Canto Ii.) (From Canto Iii.) V 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, Songs from the Troubadour (From Canto I.) (From Canto Ii.) (From Canto Iii.) V, in Poems (1820–1839), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #71008, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/praed-poems/songs-from-the-troubadour-from-canto-i-from-canto-ii-from-ca.html, id L10185.
Form and metre
Songs from the Troubadour (From Canto I.) (From Canto Ii.) (From Canto Iii.) V is 50 lines in 5 stanzas of 10 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABABCDEECD, in 2 of the 5 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.6 syllables. 21 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See 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.
- 1 ABAB-CDD-C lightA · dissembleB · fightA · trembleB · rosary · slaughterC · noD · soD · die · waterC
- 2 ABABCDEECD wayA · rememberB · mayA · decemberB · browC · wakingD · noE · soE · vowC · breakingD
- 3 ABAB-CDD-C stillA · listenB · thrillA · glistenB · high · itC · noD · soD · eternity · minuteC
- 4 ABABCDEECD nightA · tressesB · flightA · jessesB · vowedC · warningD · noE · soE · cloudC · morningD
- 5 ABABC-DDC- blandA · spokenB · handA · tokenB · sinnedC · rover · noD · soD · windC · lover
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Clotilda! many hearts are light, | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| And many lips dissemble; | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| But I am thine till priests shall fight, | 8 | ········ |
| Or Cœur de Lion tremble!-- | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Hath Jerome burned his rosary, | 8 | ·˘/··/˘˘ |
| Or Richard shrunk from slaughter? | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Oh! no, no, | 3 | ··· |
| Dream not so! | 3 | ··· |
| But till you mean your hopes to die, | 8 | ········ |
| Engrave them not in water! | 7 | ˘/···/˘ |
| Sweet Ida, on my lonely way | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Those tears I will remember, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Till icicles shall cling to May, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Or roses to December!-- | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| Are snow-wreaths bound on Summer’s brow? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Is drowsy Winter waking? | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| Oh! no, no, | 3 | ··· |
| Dream not so! | 3 | ··· |
| But lances, and a lover’s vow, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Were only made for breaking. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Lenora, I am faithful still, | 8 | /˘˘··/˘· |
| By all the saints that listen, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Till this warm heart shall cease to thrill, | 8 | ········ |
| Or these wild veins to glisten!-- | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| This bosom,--is its pulse less high? | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Or sleeps the storm within it? | 7 | ······· |
| Oh! no, no, | 3 | ··· |
| Dream not so! | 3 | ··· |
| But lovers find eternity | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| In less than half a minute. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And thus to thee I swear to-night, | 8 | ········ |
| By thine own lips and tresses, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| That I will take no further flight, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Nor break again my jesses: | 7 | ··˘/·/˘ |
| And wilt thou trust the faith I vowed, | 8 | ········ |
| And dream in spite of warning? | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Oh! no, no, | 3 | ··· |
| Dream not so! | 3 | ··· |
| But go and lure the midnight cloud, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Or chain the mist of morning. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| These words of mine, so false and bland, | 8 | ········ |
| Forget that they were spoken! | 7 | ˘/···/˘ |
| The ring is on thy radiant hand,-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Dash down the faithless token! | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| And will they say that Beauty sinned, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That Woman turned a rover? | 8 | ·/˘·˘·/˘ |
| Oh! no, no, | 3 | ··· |
| Dream not so! | 3 | ··· |
| But lovers’ vows are like the wind-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And Vidal is a Lover. | 7 | ·˘/··/˘ |
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