A Song: While on those lovely Looks I gaze
While on those lovely Looks I gaze,To see a Wretch pursuing;In Raptures of a blest Amaze,His pleasing happy Ruin;'Tis not for pity that I move;His Fate is to aspiring,Whose Heart, broke with a Load of Love,Dies wishing and admiring.
But if this Murder you'd forego,Your Slave from Death removing;Let me your Art of Charming know,Or learn you mine of loving.But whether Life, or Death, betide,In Love it's equal Measure,The Victor lives with empty Pride;The Vanquish'd die with Pleasure.
Words in this poem
- amaze v. t.
- To bewilder; to stupefy; to bring into a maze. [Pref. a- + maze.]
- aspiring a.
- That aspires; as, an Aspiring mind.
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- admiring a.
- Expressing admiration; as, an admiring glance.
- forego v. t.
- To quit; to relinquish; to leave. [See Forgo.]
- betide v. t.
- To happen to; to befall; to come to ; as, woe betide the wanderer. [OE. bitiden; pref. bi-, be- + tiden, fr. AS. tidan, to happen, fr. tid time. See Tide.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Song: While on those lovely Looks I gaze 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: While on those lovely Looks I gaze, in The Works of the Earl of Rochester (1680), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #44891, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rochester-works/a-song-while-on-those-lovely-looks-i-gaze.html, id L20446.
Form and metre
A Song: While on those lovely Looks I gaze is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%).
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-A-BCBC gazeA · pursuing · amazeA · ruin · moveB · aspiringC · loveB · admiringC
- 2 A-A-BCBC foregoA · removing · knowA · loving · betideB · measureC · prideB · pleasureC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| While on those lovely Looks I gaze, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To see a Wretch pursuing; | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| In Raptures of a blest Amaze, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| His pleasing happy Ruin; | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| 'Tis not for pity that I move; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| His Fate is to aspiring, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Whose Heart, broke with a Load of Love, | 8 | ········ |
| Dies wishing and admiring. | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| But if this Murder you'd forego, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Your Slave from Death removing; | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Let me your Art of Charming know, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Or learn you mine of loving. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| But whether Life, or Death, betide, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| In Love it's equal Measure, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| The Victor lives with empty Pride; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The Vanquish'd die with Pleasure. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
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.