Song
Celinda, by what potent artOr unresisted charm,Dost thou thine ear and frozen heartAgainst my passion arm?
Or by what hidden influenceOf powers in one combin'd,Dost thou rob Love of either sense,Made deaf as well as blind?
Sure thou as friends[38:1] united hastTwo distant deities,And scorn within thy heart hast plac'd,And love within thine eyes;
Or those soft fetters of thy hair,(A bondage that disdainsAll liberty,) do guard thine earFree from all other chains.
Then my complaint how canst thou hear,Or I this passion fly,Since thou imprison'd hast thine ear,And not confin'd thine eye?
Words in this poem
- unresisted a.
- Not resisted; unopposed. Bentley.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
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-4.html, id L08967.
Form and metre
Song is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 4 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is common measure, 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 7.0 syllables. 2 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 common measure.
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 ABAB artA · charmB · heartA · armB
- 2 ABAB influenceA · combin'dB · senseA · blindB
- 3 -A-A hast · deitiesA · plac'd · eyesA
- 4 ABAB hairA · disdainsB · earA · chainsB
- 5 ABAB hearA · flyB · earA · eyeB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Celinda, by what potent art | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| Or unresisted charm, | 6 | ······ |
| Dost thou thine ear and frozen heart | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Against my passion arm? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Or by what hidden influence | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Of powers in one combin'd, | 7 | ·/˘··˘/ |
| Dost thou rob Love of either sense, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Made deaf as well as blind? | 6 | ······ |
| Sure thou as friends[38:1] united hast | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Two distant deities, | 6 | ·/˘/˘˘ |
| And scorn within thy heart hast plac'd, | 8 | ········ |
| And love within thine eyes; | 6 | ······ |
| Or those soft fetters of thy hair, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| (A bondage that disdains | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| All liberty,) do guard thine ear | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Free from all other chains. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Then my complaint how canst thou hear, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Or I this passion fly, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Since thou imprison'd hast thine ear, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| And not confin'd thine eye? | 6 | ··˘/·· |
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.