Catullus De Lesbia
Lesbia for ever on me rails,To talk of me she never fails.Now, hang me, but for all her art,I find that I have gain'd her heart.My proof is this: I plainly see,The case is just the same with me;I curse her every hour sincerely,Yet, hang me but I love her dearly.
De me: Lesbia me dispeream nisi amat.Quo signo? quia sunt totidem mea: deprecor illamAssidue; verum dispeream nisi amo."
Words in this poem
- sincerely adv.
- In a sincere manner. Specifically: (a) Purely; without alloy.
- nisi conj.
- Unless; if not. [L.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Catullus De Lesbia is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume 1, Project Gutenberg ebook #14353; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Jonathan Swift, Catullus De Lesbia, in On Poetry: A Rhapsody, and Other Poems (1727), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #14353, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems-vol1/catullus-de-lesbia.html, id L24595.
Form and metre
Catullus De Lesbia is 11 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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 AABBCCDD railsA · failsA · artB · heartB · seeC · meC · sincerelyD · dearlyD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Lesbia for ever on me rails, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To talk of me she never fails. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Now, hang me, but for all her art, | 8 | ········ |
| I find that I have gain'd her heart. | 8 | ········ |
| My proof is this: I plainly see, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The case is just the same with me; | 8 | ········ |
| I curse her every hour sincerely, | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| Yet, hang me but I love her dearly. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| De me: Lesbia me dispeream nisi amat. | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| Quo signo? quia sunt totidem mea: deprecor illam | 14 | ·············· |
| Assidue; verum dispeream nisi amo." | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
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.