Beauty Is Vain
While roses are so red,While lilies are so white,Shall a woman exalt her faceBecause it gives delight?She's not so sweet as a rose,A lily's straighter than she,And if she were as red or whiteShe'd be but one of three.
Whether she flush in love's summerOr in its winter grow pale,Whether she flaunt her beautyOr hide it away in a veil,Be she red or white,And stand she erect or bowed,Time will win the race he runs with herAnd hide her away in a shroud.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- flaunt n.
- Anything displayed for show.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Beauty Is Vain is in the public domain. This text is taken from Goblin Market, The Prince's Progress, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #16950; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Christina Rossetti, Beauty Is Vain, in Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-goblin-market/beauty-is-vain.html, id L04312.
Form and metre
Beauty Is Vain is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 31% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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-BAB red · whiteA · face · delightA · rose · sheB · whiteA · threeB
- 2 -A-A-B-B summer · paleA · beauty · veilA · white · bowedB · her · shroudB
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 roses are so red, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| While lilies are so white, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Shall a woman exalt her face | 8 | ··/˘˘/·· |
| Because it gives delight? | 6 | ····˘/ |
| She's not so sweet as a rose, | 7 | ······· |
| A lily's straighter than she, | 7 | ·/·/˘·· |
| And if she were as red or white | 8 | ········ |
| She'd be but one of three. | 6 | ······ |
| Whether she flush in love's summer | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Or in its winter grow pale, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Whether she flaunt her beauty | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Or hide it away in a veil, | 8 | ···˘/··· |
| Be she red or white, | 5 | ····· |
| And stand she erect or bowed, | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Time will win the race he runs with her | 9 | ········· |
| And hide her away in a shroud. | 8 | ···˘/··· |
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.