The Divorce
Dear, back my wounded heart restore,And turn away thy powerful eyes;Flatter my willing soul no more:Love must not[46:1] hope what Fate denies.
Take, take away thy smiles and kisses!Thy love wounds deeper than disdain;For he that sees the heaven he misses,Sustains two hells of loss and pain.
Shouldst thou some other's suit prefer,I might return thy scorn to thee,And learn apostasy of herWho taught me, first, idolatry.
Or in thy unrelenting breastShould I[46:3] disdain or coyness move,He by thy hate might be releas'd, }Who now is prisoner to thy love. }
Since, then, unkind Fate will divorceThose whom affection long united,Be thou as cruel as this force,And I in death shall be delighted.
Thus whilst so many suppliants woo, }And beg they may thy pity prove, }I only for thy scorn do sue:'Tis charity here not to love.
Words in this poem
- unrelenting a.
- Not relenting; unyielding; rigid; hard; stern; cruel.
- unkind a.
- Having no race or kindred; childless. [See Kin kindred.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- delighted a.
- Endowed with delight.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Divorce 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 Divorce, in Original Lyrics (1651), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #32986, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stanley-lyrics/the-divorce.html, id L08978.
Form and metre
The Divorce is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, 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 8.2 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% 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 ABAB restoreA · eyesB · moreA · deniesB
- 2 ABAB kissesA · disdainB · missesA · painB
- 3 A-A- preferA · thee · herA · idolatry
- 4 --AA breast · move · — · —
- 5 ABAB divorceA · unitedB · forceA · delightedB
- 6 AA-- — · — · sue · love
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Dear, back my wounded heart restore, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| And turn away thy powerful eyes; | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Flatter my willing soul no more: | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Love must not[46:1] hope what Fate denies. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Take, take away thy smiles and kisses! | 9 | ··˘/···/˘ |
| Thy love wounds deeper than disdain; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| For he that sees the heaven he misses, | 9 | ·····/·/˘ |
| Sustains two hells of loss and pain. | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Shouldst thou some other's suit prefer, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| I might return thy scorn to thee, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| And learn apostasy of her | 8 | ··˘/˘˘·· |
| Who taught me, first, idolatry. | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| Or in thy unrelenting breast | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Should I[46:3] disdain or coyness move, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| He by thy hate might be releas'd, } | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Who now is prisoner to thy love. } | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Since, then, unkind Fate will divorce | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| Those whom affection long united, | 9 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Be thou as cruel as this force, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And I in death shall be delighted. | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Thus whilst so many suppliants woo, } | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And beg they may thy pity prove, } | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I only for thy scorn do sue: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| 'Tis charity here not to love. | 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.