Song
Foolish Lover, go and seekFor the damask of the rose,And the lilies white disposeTo adorn thy mistress' cheek;
Steal some star out of the sky,Rob the phoenix, and the eastOf her wealthy sweets divest,To enrich her breath or eye!
We thy borrow'd pride despise:For this wine to which we areVotaries, is richer farThan her cheek, or breath, or eyes.
And should that coy fair one viewThese diviner beauties, sheIn this flame would rival thee,And be taught to love thee too.
Come, then, break thy wanton chain,That when this brisk wine hath spreadOn thy paler cheek a red,Thou, like us, may'st Love disdain.
Love, thy power must yield to wine!And whilst thus ourselves we arm,Boldly we defy thy charm:For these flames extinguish[20:1] thine.
Words in this poem
- despise v. t.
- To look down upon with disfavor or contempt; to contemn; to scorn; to disdain; to have a low opinion or contemptuous dislike of. [OF. despis-, in some forms of despire to despise, fr. L. despicere, despectum, to look down upon, despise; de- + spicere, specere, to look. See Spy, and cf. Des]
- boldly adv.
- In a bold manner. [AS. bealdlice.]
- defy v. t.
- To renounce or dissolve all bonds of affiance, faith, or obligation with; to reject, refuse, or renounce. [F. défier, OF. deffier, desfier, LL. disfidare to disown faith or fidelity, to dissolve the bond of allegiance, as between the vassal and his lord; hence, to ch]
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.html, id L08950.
Form and metre
Song is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABBA, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 33% 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 ABBA seekA · roseB · disposeB · cheekA
- 2 A--A skyA · east · divest · eyeA
- 3 ABBA despiseA · areB · farB · eyesA
- 4 ABBA viewA · sheB · theeB · tooA
- 5 ABBA chainA · spreadB · redB · disdainA
- 6 ABBA wineA · armB · charmB · thineA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Foolish Lover, go and seek | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| For the damask of the rose, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And the lilies white dispose | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| To adorn thy mistress' cheek; | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| Steal some star out of the sky, | 7 | ······· |
| Rob the phoenix, and the east | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Of her wealthy sweets divest, | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| To enrich her breath or eye! | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| We thy borrow'd pride despise: | 7 | ··/··˘/ |
| For this wine to which we are | 7 | ······· |
| Votaries, is richer far | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Than her cheek, or breath, or eyes. | 7 | ······· |
| And should that coy fair one view | 7 | ······· |
| These diviner beauties, she | 7 | ·˘/˘/˘· |
| In this flame would rival thee, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And be taught to love thee too. | 7 | ······· |
| Come, then, break thy wanton chain, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| That when this brisk wine hath spread | 7 | ······· |
| On thy paler cheek a red, | 7 | ······· |
| Thou, like us, may'st Love disdain. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Love, thy power must yield to wine! | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| And whilst thus ourselves we arm, | 8 | ···˘˘/·· |
| Boldly we defy thy charm: | 7 | /˘·˘/·· |
| For these flames extinguish[20:1] thine. | 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.