Book IV: , Ode the Eleventh
Sweet Phyllis, leave thy quiet home,For lo! the ides of April come!Then hasten to my bower;A cask of rich Albanian wine,In nine years mellowness, is mine,To glad the festal hour.
My garden-herbs, in fragrance warm,Our various chaplets wait to form;My tender ivies grow,That, twining in thy amber hair,Add jocund spirit to thine air,And whiteness to thy brow.
My walls with silver vessels shine;Chaste vervain decks the modest shrine,That longs with crimson stainsTo see its foliage sprinkled o'er,When the devoted Lamb shall pourThe treasure of his veins.
The household Girls, and menial Boy,From room to room assiduous fly,And busy hands extend;Our numerous fires are quivering bright,And, rolling from their pointed height,The dusky wreaths ascend.
Convivial rites, in mystic state,Thou, lovely Nymph, shalt celebrate,And give the day to mirthThat this Love-chosen month divides;Since honor'd rose its blooming idesBy dear Mæcenas' birth.
O! not to me my natal starSo sacred seems;--then, Nymph, prepareTo grace its smiling dawn!A wealthier Maid, in pleasing chains,Illustrious Telephus detains,From humble THEE withdrawn.
When Pride would daring hopes create,Of Phaeton recall the fate,Consum'd in his career!Let rash Bellerophon, who triedThe fiery Pegasus to guide,Awake thy prudent fear!
Thus warn'd, thy better interest know,And cease those charming eyes to throwOn Youths of high degree!Come then, of all my Loves the last,For, every other passion past,I only burn for thee!
Come, and with tuneful voice rehearseThe measures of thy Poet's verseAnd charm the list'ning Throng!Believe me, Fairest, all our caresWill soften at the melting airsThat deck the lyric song.
Words in this poem
- ides n.
- The fifteenth day of March, May, July, and October, and the thirteenth day of the other months. [L. idus: cf. F. ides.]
- albanian a.
- Of or pertaining to Albania, a province of Turkey.
- mellowness n.
- Quality or state of being mellow.
- festal a.
- Of or pertaining to a holiday or a feast; joyous; festive. [L. festum holiday, feast. See feast.]
- jocund
- Merry; cheerful; gay; airy; lively; sportive. [L. jocundus, jucundus, orig., helpful, fr. juvare to help. See Aid.]
- 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,]
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- natal a.
- Of or pertaining to one's birth; accompying or dating from one's birth; native. [L. natalis, fr. natus, p.p. of nasci to be born: cf. F. natal. See Nation, and cf. Noel.]
- phaeton n.
- A four-wheeled carriage (with or without a top), open, or having no side pieces, in front of the seat. It is drawn by one or two horses. [F. phaéton a kind of carriage, fr. Phaéthon Phaëthon, the son of Helios. See Phaëthon.]
- career n.
- A race course: the ground run over. [F. carrière race course, high road, street, fr. L. carrus wagon. See Car.]
- bellerophon n.
- A genus of fossil univalve shells, believed to belong to the Heteropoda, peculiar to the Paleozoic age.
- tuneful a.
- Harmonious; melodious; musical; as, tuneful notes.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book IV: , Ode the Eleventh is in the public domain. This text is taken from Original sonnets on various subjects; and odes paraphrased from Horace, Project Gutenberg ebook #27663; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Anna Seward, Book IV: , Ode the Eleventh, in Original Sonnets on Various Subjects (1799), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #27663, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/seward-sonnets/book-iv-ode-the-eleventh.html, id L09845.
Form and metre
Book IV: , Ode the Eleventh is 54 lines in 9 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABCCB, complete in 5 of its 9 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.6 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 22% 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 AABCCB homeA · comeA · bowerB · wineC · mineC · hourB
- 2 AA-BB- warmA · formA · grow · hairB · airB · brow
- 3 AAB--B shineA · shrineA · stainsB · o'er · pour · veinsB
- 4 --ABBA boy · fly · extendA · brightB · heightB · ascendA
- 5 AABCCB stateA · celebrateA · mirthB · dividesC · idesC · birthB
- 6 --ABBA star · prepare · dawnA · chainsB · detainsB · withdrawnA
- 7 AABCCB createA · fateA · careerB · triedC · guideC · fearB
- 8 AABCCB knowA · throwA · degreeB · lastC · pastC · theeB
- 9 AABCCB rehearseA · verseA · throngB · caresC · airsC · songB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sweet Phyllis, leave thy quiet home, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| For lo! the ides of April come! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Then hasten to my bower; | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| A cask of rich Albanian wine, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| In nine years mellowness, is mine, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| To glad the festal hour. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| My garden-herbs, in fragrance warm, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Our various chaplets wait to form; | 8 | //˘····· |
| My tender ivies grow, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| That, twining in thy amber hair, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Add jocund spirit to thine air, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And whiteness to thy brow. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| My walls with silver vessels shine; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Chaste vervain decks the modest shrine, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| That longs with crimson stains | 6 | ···/˘· |
| To see its foliage sprinkled o'er, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| When the devoted Lamb shall pour | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| The treasure of his veins. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The household Girls, and menial Boy, | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| From room to room assiduous fly, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| And busy hands extend; | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Our numerous fires are quivering bright, | 8 | //˘/·/˘· |
| And, rolling from their pointed height, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The dusky wreaths ascend. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Convivial rites, in mystic state, | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| Thou, lovely Nymph, shalt celebrate, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And give the day to mirth | 6 | ······ |
| That this Love-chosen month divides; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Since honor'd rose its blooming ides | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| By dear Mæcenas' birth. | 6 | ······ |
| O! not to me my natal star | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| So sacred seems;--then, Nymph, prepare | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| To grace its smiling dawn! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| A wealthier Maid, in pleasing chains, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Illustrious Telephus detains, | 8 | ˘/˘···˘/ |
| From humble THEE withdrawn. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| When Pride would daring hopes create, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Of Phaeton recall the fate, | 7 | ···/··· |
| Consum'd in his career! | 6 | ˘/··˘/ |
| Let rash Bellerophon, who tried | 8 | ··˘/˘˘·· |
| The fiery Pegasus to guide, | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| Awake thy prudent fear! | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| Thus warn'd, thy better interest know, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And cease those charming eyes to throw | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| On Youths of high degree! | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Come then, of all my Loves the last, | 8 | ········ |
| For, every other passion past, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| I only burn for thee! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Come, and with tuneful voice rehearse | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The measures of thy Poet's verse | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And charm the list'ning Throng! | 6 | ······ |
| Believe me, Fairest, all our cares | 8 | ˘/·/˘·/· |
| Will soften at the melting airs | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| That deck the lyric song. | 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.