The Combat
Now will I a lover be!Love himself commanded me.Full at first of stubborn pride,To submit, my soul denied.He his quiver takes, and bow,Bids defiance: forth I go.Armed with spear and shield we meet:On he charges: I retreat,
Till, perceiving in the fightHe had wasted every flight,Into me, with fury hot,Like a dart himself he shot.And my cold heart melts; my shieldUseless, no defence could yield;For what boots an outward screen,When, alas, the fight's within?
Words in this poem
- defence n.
- The act of defending, or the state of being defended; protection, as from violence or danger. [F. défense, OF. defense, fem., defens, masc., fr. L. defensa (cf. Fence.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Combat 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, The Combat, in Original Lyrics (1651), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #32986, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stanley-lyrics/the-combat.html, id L09005.
Form and metre
The Combat is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 12% 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 AABBCCDD beA · meA · prideB · deniedB · bowC · goC · meetD · retreatD
- 2 AABBCC-- fightA · flightA · hotB · shotB · shieldC · yieldC · screen · within
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Now will I a lover be! | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Love himself commanded me. | 7 | ·˘/˘/˘· |
| Full at first of stubborn pride, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| To submit, my soul denied. | 7 | ·˘/··˘/ |
| He his quiver takes, and bow, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Bids defiance: forth I go. | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| Armed with spear and shield we meet: | 8 | ·˘······ |
| On he charges: I retreat, | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Till, perceiving in the fight | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| He had wasted every flight, | 8 | ··/˘/˘˘· |
| Into me, with fury hot, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Like a dart himself he shot. | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| And my cold heart melts; my shield | 7 | ······· |
| Useless, no defence could yield; | 7 | /˘·˘/·· |
| For what boots an outward screen, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| When, alas, the fight's within? | 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.