Poem V
On this verdant lotus laid,Underneath the myrtle's shade,Let us drink our sorrows dead,Whilst Love plays the Ganymed.
Life like to[66:1] a wheel runs round:And, ere long, we undergroundTa'en by death asunder, mustMoulder in forgotten dust.
Why then graves should we bedew,Why the ground with odours strew?Better, whilst alive, prepareFlowers and unguents for our hair.
Come, my Fair,[66:2] and come away!All our cares behind us lay,That these pleasures we may know,Ere we come to those below.
Words in this poem
- moulder n.
- One who, or that which, molds or forms into shape; specifically (Founding), one skilled in the art of making molds for castings.
- bedew v. t.
- To moisten with dew, or as with dew.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Poem V 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, Poem V, in Original Lyrics (1651), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #32986, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stanley-lyrics/poem-v.html, id L09006.
Form and metre
Poem V is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% 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 AA-- laidA · shadeA · dead · ganymed
- 2 AABB roundA · undergroundA · mustB · dustB
- 3 AABB bedewA · strewA · prepareB · hairB
- 4 AABB awayA · layA · knowB · belowB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| On this verdant lotus laid, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Underneath the myrtle's shade, | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| Let us drink our sorrows dead, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Whilst Love plays the Ganymed. | 7 | ······˘ |
| Life like to[66:1] a wheel runs round: | 7 | ······· |
| And, ere long, we underground | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Ta'en by death asunder, must | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Moulder in forgotten dust. | 7 | /˘·˘/˘· |
| Why then graves should we bedew, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Why the ground with odours strew? | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Better, whilst alive, prepare | 7 | /˘·˘/˘/ |
| Flowers and unguents for our hair. | 8 | /····/˘· |
| Come, my Fair,[66:2] and come away! | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| All our cares behind us lay, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| That these pleasures we may know, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Ere we come to those below. | 7 | ······· |
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.