Song 2
Have I caught my heavenly JuelTeaching Sleepe most faire to be:Now will I teach her, that sheWhen shee wakes is too too cruell.
Since sweete Sleepe her eyes hath charmed,The two onely darts of Love:Now will I with that Boy proveSome play while he is disarmed.
Her tongue waking still refuseth,Giving franklie niggard no:Now will I attempt to knowe,What no her tongue sleeping useth.
See the hand that waking gardeth,Sleeping grants a free resort:Now I will invade the fort.Cowards Love with losse rewardeth.
But (O foole) thinke of the dangerOf her just and high disdaine.Now will I (alas) refraineLove feares nothing else but anger.
Yet those lippes so sweetly swelling,Do invite a stealing kisse;Now but venture will I this,Who will read must first learne spelling.
Oh sweete kisse, but ah shee is waking.Lowring beautie chastens mee.Now will I for feare hence flee,Foole, more Foole for no more taking.
Words in this poem
- cruell a.
- Disposed to give pain to others; willing or pleased to hurt, torment, or afflict; destitute of sympathetic kindness and pity; savage; inhuman; hard-hearted; merciless. [F. cruel, fr. L. crudelis, fr. crudus. See Crude.]
- disarmed a.
- Deprived of arms.
- losse n.
- Praise. See Loos.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Song 2 is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sir P.S.: His Astrophel and Stella Wherein the excellence of sweete poesie is concluded, Project Gutenberg ebook #56375; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Philip Sidney, Song 2, in Astrophel and Stella (1591), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56375, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sidney-astrophel/song-2.html, id L04865.
Form and metre
Song 2 is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABBA, complete in 5 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.6 syllables. 10 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 18% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 ABBA juelA · beB · sheB · cruellA
- 2 ABBA charmedA · loveB · proveB · disarmedA
- 3 ABBA refusethA · noB · knoweB · usethA
- 4 -AA- gardeth · resortA · fortA · rewardeth
- 5 -AA- danger · disdaineA · refraineA · anger
- 6 ABBA swellingA · kisseB · thisB · spellingA
- 7 ABBA wakingA · meeB · fleeB · takingA
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Have I caught my heavenly Juel | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| Teaching Sleepe most faire to be: | 7 | /˘····· |
| Now will I teach her, that she | 7 | ······· |
| When shee wakes is too too cruell. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Since sweete Sleepe her eyes hath charmed, | 7 | ······· |
| The two onely darts of Love: | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Now will I with that Boy prove | 7 | ······· |
| Some play while he is disarmed. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Her tongue waking still refuseth, | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Giving franklie niggard no: | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Now will I attempt to knowe, | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| What no her tongue sleeping useth. | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| See the hand that waking gardeth, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Sleeping grants a free resort: | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| Now I will invade the fort. | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Cowards Love with losse rewardeth. | 8 | /˘···˘/˘ |
| But (O foole) thinke of the danger | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Of her just and high disdaine. | 7 | ······· |
| Now will I (alas) refraine | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Love feares nothing else but anger. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Yet those lippes so sweetly swelling, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Do invite a stealing kisse; | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| Now but venture will I this, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Who will read must first learne spelling. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Oh sweete kisse, but ah shee is waking. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Lowring beautie chastens mee. | 8 | /˘˘··/˘· |
| Now will I for feare hence flee, | 7 | ······· |
| Foole, more Foole for no more taking. | 10 | ········/˘ |
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.