The Idolater
Think not, pale lover, he who diesBurnt in the flames of Celia's eyes,Is unto Love a sacrifice;
Or, by the merit of this pain,Thou shalt the crown of martyrs gain!Those hopes are, as thy passion, vain.
For when, by death, from[18:1] these flames free,To greater thou condemn'd shalt be,And punish'd for idolatry,
Since thou, Love's votary before,(Whilst she[18:2] was kind,) dost him no more,But, in his shrine, Disdain adore.
Nor will this fire the gods prepareTo punish scorn, that cruel Fair,Though now from flames exempted, spare;
But as together both shall die,Both burnt alike in flames shall lie,She in thy heart,[18:3] thou in her eye.
Words in this poem
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- 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]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Idolater 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 Idolater, in Original Lyrics (1651), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #32986, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stanley-lyrics/the-idolater.html, id L08947.
Form and metre
The Idolater is 18 lines in 6 stanzas of 3 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 11% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AA- diesA · eyesA · sacrifice
- 2 AAA painA · gainA · vainA
- 3 AA- freeA · beA · idolatry
- 4 AAA beforeA · moreA · adoreA
- 5 AAA prepareA · fairA · spareA
- 6 AAA dieA · lieA · eyeA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Think not, pale lover, he who dies | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Burnt in the flames of Celia's eyes, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Is unto Love a sacrifice; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Or, by the merit of this pain, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Thou shalt the crown of martyrs gain! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Those hopes are, as thy passion, vain. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For when, by death, from[18:1] these flames free, | 8 | ········ |
| To greater thou condemn'd shalt be, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| And punish'd for idolatry, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Since thou, Love's votary before, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| (Whilst she[18:2] was kind,) dost him no more, | 8 | ········ |
| But, in his shrine, Disdain adore. | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| Nor will this fire the gods prepare | 8 | ···/··˘/ |
| To punish scorn, that cruel Fair, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Though now from flames exempted, spare; | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| But as together both shall die, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Both burnt alike in flames shall lie, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| She in thy heart,[18:3] thou in her eye. | 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.