A Song: As Chloris full of harmless Thoughts
As Chloris full of harmless ThoughtsBeneath a Willow lay,Kind Love a youthful Shepherd brought,To pass the Time away.
She blusht to be encounter'd so,And chid the amorous Swain:But as she strove to rise and go,He pull'd her down again.
A sudden Passion seized her Heart,In spight of her Disdain;She found a Pulse in ev'ry Part,And Love in ev'ry Vein.
Ah, Youth! (said she) what Charms are these,That conquer and surprize?Ah! let me--for unless you please,I have no Power to rise.
She fainting spoke, and trembling lay,For fear he should complyHer lovely Eyes her Heart betray,And give her Tongue the Lye.
Thus she whom Princes had deny'd,With all their Pomp and Train;Was, in the lucky Minute, try'd,And yielded to a Swain.
Words in this poem
- spight n.
- A woodpecker. See Speight.
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Song: As Chloris full of harmless Thoughts is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Works of the Right Honourable John, Earl of Rochester Consisting of Satires, Songs, Translations, and other Occasional Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #44891; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Wilmot Rochester, A Song: As Chloris full of harmless Thoughts, in The Works of the Earl of Rochester (1680), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #44891, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rochester-works/a-song-as-chloris-full-of-harmless-thoughts.html, id L20451.
Form and metre
A Song: As Chloris full of harmless Thoughts is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in 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 -A-A thoughts · layA · brought · awayA
- 2 ABAB soA · swainB · goA · againB
- 3 ABAB heartA · disdainB · partA · veinB
- 4 ABAB theseA · surprizeB · pleaseA · riseB
- 5 ABAB layA · complyB · betrayA · lyeB
- 6 ABAB deny'dA · trainB · try'dA · swainB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| As Chloris full of harmless Thoughts | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Beneath a Willow lay, | 6 | ···/·· |
| Kind Love a youthful Shepherd brought, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| To pass the Time away. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| She blusht to be encounter'd so, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| And chid the amorous Swain: | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| But as she strove to rise and go, | 8 | ········ |
| He pull'd her down again. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| A sudden Passion seized her Heart, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| In spight of her Disdain; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| She found a Pulse in ev'ry Part, | 8 | ········ |
| And Love in ev'ry Vein. | 6 | ······ |
| Ah, Youth! (said she) what Charms are these, | 8 | ········ |
| That conquer and surprize? | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Ah! let me--for unless you please, | 8 | ········ |
| I have no Power to rise. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| She fainting spoke, and trembling lay, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘˘· |
| For fear he should comply | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Her lovely Eyes her Heart betray, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| And give her Tongue the Lye. | 6 | ······ |
| Thus she whom Princes had deny'd, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With all their Pomp and Train; | 6 | ······ |
| Was, in the lucky Minute, try'd, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And yielded to a Swain. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
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