Delay
Delay! Alas, there cannot beTo Love a greater tyranny:Those cruel beauties that have slainTheir votaries by their disdain,Or studied torments sharp and witty.Will be recorded for their pity,And after-ages be misledTo think them kind, when this is spread.Of deaths the speediest is despair;Delays the slowest tortures are;Thy cruelty at once destroys,But expectation starves my joys.Time and Delay may bring me pastThe power of Love to cure, at last;And shouldst thou wish to ease my pain,Thy pity might be lent in vain.Or if thou hast decreed that IMust fall[36:1] beneath thy cruelty,O kill me soon! Thou wilt expressMore mercy, ev'n in showing less.
Words in this poem
- witty a.
- Possessed of wit; knowing; wise; skillful; judicious; clever; cunning. [AS. witig, wittig. See Wit, n.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Delay 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, Delay, in Original Lyrics (1651), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #32986, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stanley-lyrics/delay.html, id L08965.
Form and metre
Delay is 20 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 70% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 30% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 --AABBCC--DDEEAA--FF be · tyranny · slainA · disdainA · wittyB · pityB · misledC · spreadC · despair · are · destroysD · joysD · pastE · lastE · painA · vainA · i · cruelty · expressF · lessF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Delay! Alas, there cannot be | 8 | ˘/˘/·/˘· |
| To Love a greater tyranny: | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Those cruel beauties that have slain | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Their votaries by their disdain, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Or studied torments sharp and witty. | 9 | ·/˘/···/˘ |
| Will be recorded for their pity, | 9 | ··˘/˘··/˘ |
| And after-ages be misled | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| To think them kind, when this is spread. | 8 | ········ |
| Of deaths the speediest is despair; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Delays the slowest tortures are; | 8 | ˘/·/˘/˘· |
| Thy cruelty at once destroys, | 7 | ·/˘··˘/ |
| But expectation starves my joys. | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Time and Delay may bring me past | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| The power of Love to cure, at last; | 8 | ·/······ |
| And shouldst thou wish to ease my pain, | 8 | ········ |
| Thy pity might be lent in vain. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Or if thou hast decreed that I | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Must fall[36:1] beneath thy cruelty, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| O kill me soon! Thou wilt express | 8 | ······˘/ |
| More mercy, ev'n in showing less. | 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.