Song
Faith, 'tis not worth thy pains and careTo seek t'ensnareA heart so poor as mine:Some fools there beHate liberty,Whom with more ease thou may'st confine.
Alas! when with much charge thou hastBrought it at lastBeneath thy power to bow,It will adoreSome twenty more,And that, perhaps, you'd[24:2] not allow.
No, Chloris, I no more will proveThe curse of love,And now can boast a heartHath learn'd of theeInconstancy,And cozen'd women of their art.
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- adore v. t.
- To worship with profound reverence; to pay divine honors to; to honor as deity or as divine. [OE. aouren, anouren, adoren, OF. aorer, adorer, F. adorer, fr. L. adorare; ad + orare to speak, pray, os, oris, mouth. In OE. confused with honor, the French pr]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Song 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, Song, in Original Lyrics (1651), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #32986, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stanley-lyrics/song-2.html, id L08954.
Form and metre
Song is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic dimeter, 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 5.7 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic dimeter.
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 AAB--B careA · t'ensnareA · mineB · be · liberty · confineB
- 2 AABCCB hastA · lastA · bowB · adoreC · moreC · allowB
- 3 AAB--B proveA · loveA · heartB · thee · inconstancy · artB
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 dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Faith, 'tis not worth thy pains and care | 8 | ········ |
| To seek t'ensnare | 4 | ···· |
| A heart so poor as mine: | 6 | ······ |
| Some fools there be | 4 | ···· |
| Hate liberty, | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| Whom with more ease thou may'st confine. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Alas! when with much charge thou hast | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Brought it at last | 4 | ···· |
| Beneath thy power to bow, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| It will adore | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Some twenty more, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And that, perhaps, you'd[24:2] not allow. | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| No, Chloris, I no more will prove | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The curse of love, | 4 | ···· |
| And now can boast a heart | 6 | ······ |
| Hath learn'd of thee | 4 | ···· |
| Inconstancy, | 4 | ˘/˘˘ |
| And cozen'd women of their art. | 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.