Unalter'd by Sickness
Pale envious Sickness, hence! no more }Possess her breast, too cold before. }In vain, alas, thou dost invade }A beauty that can never fade. }Could all thy malice but impairOne o' th' sweets which crown her fair;Or steal the spirits from her eye;Or kiss into a paler dyeThe blooming[28:3] roses of her cheek;Our suffering[28:4] hopes might justly seekRedress from thee, and thou mightst saveThousands of lovers from the grave.But such assaults are vain, for sheIs too divine to stoop to thee,Blest with a form as much too highFor any change, as[28:5] Destiny,Which no attempt can violate:For what's her beauty is our fate.
Words in this poem
- envious a.
- Malignant; mischievous; spiteful. [OF. envios, F. envieux, fr. L. invidiosus, fr. invidia envy. See Envy, and cf. Invidious.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Unalter'd by Sickness 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, Unalter'd by Sickness, in Original Lyrics (1651), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #32986, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stanley-lyrics/unalter-d-by-sickness.html, id L08958.
Form and metre
Unalter'd by Sickness is 18 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 89% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.9 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 56% 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 AAAABBCCDDEEFFC-GG — · — · — · — · impairB · fairB · eyeC · dyeC · cheekD · seekD · saveE · graveE · sheF · theeF · highC · destiny · violateG · fateG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Pale envious Sickness, hence! no more } | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Possess her breast, too cold before. } | 8 | ˘/······ |
| In vain, alas, thou dost invade } | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| A beauty that can never fade. } | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Could all thy malice but impair | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| One o' th' sweets which crown her fair; | 7 | ······· |
| Or steal the spirits from her eye; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Or kiss into a paler dye | 8 | ········ |
| The blooming[28:3] roses of her cheek; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Our suffering[28:4] hopes might justly seek | 8 | //˘··/˘· |
| Redress from thee, and thou mightst save | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Thousands of lovers from the grave. | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| But such assaults are vain, for she | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Is too divine to stoop to thee, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Blest with a form as much too high | 8 | ········ |
| For any change, as[28:5] Destiny, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Which no attempt can violate: | 8 | ··˘/·/˘˘ |
| For what's her beauty is our fate. | 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.