A Song: Fair Chloris in a Pig-Sty lay
Fair Chloris in a Pig-Sty lay,Her tender Herd lay by her:She slept, in murmuring Gruntlings they,Complaining of the scorching Day,Her Slumbers thus inspire.
She dreamt, while she with careful Pains,Her snowy Arms employ'd,In Ivory Pails to fill out Grains,One of her Love-convicted Swains,Thus hastning to her cry'd:
Fly, Nymph, oh! fly, e're 'tis too late,A dear-lov'd Life to save:Rescue your Bosom Pig from Fate,Who now expires, hung in the GateThat leads to yonder Cave.
My self had try'd to set him free,Rather than brought the News:But I am so abhorr'd by thee,That ev'n thy Darling's Life from me,I know thou wou'dst refuse.
Struck with the News, as quick she fliesAs Blushes to her Face:Not the bright Lightning from the Skies,Nor Love, shot from her brighter Eyes,Move half so swift a pace.
This Plot, it seems, the lustful SlaveHad laid against her Honour:Which not one God took care to save,For he persues her to the Cave,And throws himself upon her.
Now pierced is her Virgin Zone,She feels the Foe within it;She hears a broken amorous Groan,The panting Lover's fainting Moan,Just in the happy Minute.
Frighted she wakes, and waking sighs,Nature thus kindly eas'd,In Dreams rais'd by her murm'ring Pigs,And her own Th--b between her L--gs,She's innocently pleas'd.
Words in this poem
- scorching a.
- Burning; parching or shriveling with heat.
- snowy a.
- White like snow.
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- innocently adv.
- In an innocent manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Song: Fair Chloris in a Pig-Sty lay 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: Fair Chloris in a Pig-Sty lay, in The Works of the Earl of Rochester (1680), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #44891, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rochester-works/a-song-fair-chloris-in-a-pig-sty-lay.html, id L20453.
Form and metre
A Song: Fair Chloris in a Pig-Sty lay is 40 lines in 8 stanzas of 5 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAAB, complete in 4 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 A-AA- layA · her · theyA · dayA · inspire
- 2 A-AA- painsA · employ'd · grainsA · swainsA · cry'd
- 3 ABAAB lateA · saveB · fateA · gateA · caveB
- 4 ABAAB freeA · newsB · theeA · meA · refuseB
- 5 ABAAB fliesA · faceB · skiesA · eyesA · paceB
- 6 A-AA- slaveA · honour · saveA · caveA · her
- 7 ABAAB zoneA · itB · groanA · moanA · minuteB
- 8 -A--A sighs · eas'dA · pigs · — · pleas'dA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Fair Chloris in a Pig-Sty lay, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Her tender Herd lay by her: | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| She slept, in murmuring Gruntlings they, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Complaining of the scorching Day, | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| Her Slumbers thus inspire. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| She dreamt, while she with careful Pains, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Her snowy Arms employ'd, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| In Ivory Pails to fill out Grains, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| One of her Love-convicted Swains, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Thus hastning to her cry'd: | 6 | ······ |
| Fly, Nymph, oh! fly, e're 'tis too late, | 8 | ········ |
| A dear-lov'd Life to save: | 6 | ······ |
| Rescue your Bosom Pig from Fate, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Who now expires, hung in the Gate | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| That leads to yonder Cave. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| My self had try'd to set him free, | 8 | ········ |
| Rather than brought the News: | 6 | /˘···· |
| But I am so abhorr'd by thee, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| That ev'n thy Darling's Life from me, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I know thou wou'dst refuse. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Struck with the News, as quick she flies | 8 | ········ |
| As Blushes to her Face: | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Not the bright Lightning from the Skies, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Nor Love, shot from her brighter Eyes, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Move half so swift a pace. | 6 | ······ |
| This Plot, it seems, the lustful Slave | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Had laid against her Honour: | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Which not one God took care to save, | 8 | ········ |
| For he persues her to the Cave, | 7 | ······· |
| And throws himself upon her. | 7 | ··˘/··· |
| Now pierced is her Virgin Zone, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| She feels the Foe within it; | 7 | ······· |
| She hears a broken amorous Groan, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The panting Lover's fainting Moan, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Just in the happy Minute. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Frighted she wakes, and waking sighs, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Nature thus kindly eas'd, | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| In Dreams rais'd by her murm'ring Pigs, | 8 | ········ |
| And her own Th--b between her L--gs, | 9 | ········· |
| She's innocently pleas'd. | 6 | ·/˘˘˘· |
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.