Apollo and Daphne
When Phoebus saw a rugged bark beguileHis love, and his embraces intercept,The leaves, instructed by his grief to smile,Taking fresh growth and verdure as he wept,'How can,' saith he, 'my woes expect release,When these,[62:1] the subject of my tears, increase?'
His chang'd yet scorn-retaining Fair he kiss'd,From the lov'd trunk plucking a little bough,And though the conquest which he sought he miss'd,With that triumphant spoil adorns his brow.Thus this disdainful maid his aim deceives:Where he expected fruit he gathers leaves.
Words in this poem
- phoebus n.
- Apollo; the sun god.
- saith
- 3d pers. sing. pres. of Say.
- expect v. t.
- To wait for; to await. [L. expectatum, to look out for, await, expect; ex + out spectare to look at. See Spectacle.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Apollo and Daphne is in the public domain. This text is taken from Thomas Stanley: His Original Lyrics, Complete, In Their Collated Readings of 1647, 1651, 1657. With an Introduction, Textual Notes, a List of Editions, an Appendix of Translations, and a Portrait., Project Gutenberg ebook #32986; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Stanley, Apollo and Daphne, in Original Lyrics (1651), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #32986, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stanley-lyrics/apollo-and-daphne.html, id L08995.
Form and metre
Apollo and Daphne is 12 lines in 2 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCC. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 8% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABABCC beguileA · interceptB · smileA · weptB · releaseC · increaseC
- 2 ABABCC kiss'dA · boughB · miss'dA · browB · deceivesC · leavesC
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| When Phoebus saw a rugged bark beguile | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| His love, and his embraces intercept, | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| The leaves, instructed by his grief to smile, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Taking fresh growth and verdure as he wept, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| 'How can,' saith he, 'my woes expect release, | 10 | ······˘/˘/ |
| When these,[62:1] the subject of my tears, increase?' | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| His chang'd yet scorn-retaining Fair he kiss'd, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| From the lov'd trunk plucking a little bough, | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| And though the conquest which he sought he miss'd, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| With that triumphant spoil adorns his brow. | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/·· |
| Thus this disdainful maid his aim deceives: | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| Where he expected fruit he gathers leaves. | 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.