Char
And with the same warm breath did mineInto thy bosom slide,There dwell, contracted unto thine,Yet still with me reside.Weak Nature no such power doth know:Love only can these wonders show.
Both souls thus in desire are one,And each is two in skill,Doubled in intellect alone,United in the will.Weak Nature no such power doth know:Love only can these wonders show.
Words in this poem
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Char 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, Char, in Original Lyrics (1651), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #32986, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stanley-lyrics/char.html, id L08982.
Form and metre
Char is 12 lines in 2 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.3 syllables. 8% 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 ABABCC mineA · slideB · thineA · resideB · knowC · showC
- 2 -A-ABB one · skillA · alone · willA · knowB · showB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| And with the same warm breath did mine | 8 | ········ |
| Into thy bosom slide, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| There dwell, contracted unto thine, | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| Yet still with me reside. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Weak Nature no such power doth know: | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| Love only can these wonders show. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Both souls thus in desire are one, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And each is two in skill, | 6 | ······ |
| Doubled in intellect alone, | 8 | /˘·/˘·˘/ |
| United in the will. | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| Weak Nature no such power doth know: | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| Love only can these wonders show. | 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.