Louisa to Strephon. 1724
Ah! Strephon, how can you despiseHer, who without thy pity dies!To Strephon I have still been true,And of as noble blood as you;Fair issue of the genial bed,A virgin in thy bosom bred:Embraced thee closer than a wife;When thee I leave, I leave my life.Why should my shepherd take amiss,That oft I wake thee with a kiss?Yet you of every kiss complain;Ah! is not love a pleasing pain?A pain which every happy nightYou cure with ease and with delight;With pleasure, as the poet sings,Too great for mortals less than kings.Chloe, when on thy breast I lie,Observes me with revengeful eye:If Chloe o'er thy heart prevails,She'll tear me with her desperate nails;And with relentless hands destroyThe tender pledges of our joy.Nor have I bred a spurious race;They all were born from thy embrace.Consider, Strephon, what you do;For, should I die for love of you,I'll haunt thy dreams, a bloodless ghost;And all my kin, (a numerous host,)Who down direct our lineage bringFrom victors o'er the Memphian king;Renown'd in sieges and campaigns,Who never fled the bloody plains:Who in tempestuous seas can sport,And scorn the pleasures of a court;From whom great Sylla found his doom,Who scourged to death that scourge of Rome,Shall on thee take a vengeance dire;Thou like Alcides shalt expire,When his envenom'd shirt he wore,And skin and flesh in pieces tore.Nor less that shirt, my rival's gift,Cut from the piece that made her shift,Shall in thy dearest blood be dyed,And make thee tear thy tainted hide.
Words in this poem
- despise v. t.
- To look down upon with disfavor or contempt; to contemn; to scorn; to disdain; to have a low opinion or contemptuous dislike of. [OF. despis-, in some forms of despire to despise, fr. L. despicere, despectum, to look down upon, despise; de- + spicere, specere, to look. See Spy, and cf. Des]
- genial a.
- Contributing to, or concerned in, propagation or production; generative; procreative; productive. [L. genialis: cf. OF. genial. See Genius.]
- closer n.
- One who, or that which, closes; specifically, a boot closer. See under Boot.
- desperate a.
- Without hope; given to despair; hopeless. [L. desperatus, p. p. of desperare. See Despair, and cf. Desperado.]
- relentless a.
- Unmoved by appeals for sympathy or forgiveness; insensible to the distresses of others; destitute of tenderness; unrelenting; unyielding; unpitying; as, a prey to relentless despotism.
- ghost n.
- The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
- memphian a.
- Of or pertaining to the ancient city of Memphis in Egypt; hence, Egyptian; as, Memphian darkness.
- scourge n.
- A lash; a strap or cord; especially, a lash used to inflict pain or punishment; an instrument of punishment or discipline; a whip. [F. escourgée, fr. L. excoriata (sc. scutica) a stripped off (lash or whip), fr. excoriate to strip, to skin. See Excoriate.]
- 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,]
- dire a.
- Ill-boding; portentous; as, dire omens. [L. dirus; of uncertain origin.]
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- tore n.
- The dead grass that remains on mowing land in winter and spring. Mortimer. [Probably from the root of tear; cf. W. tór a break, cut, tóri to break, cut.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Louisa to Strephon. 1724 is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #13621; 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, Louisa to Strephon. 1724, in Cadenus and Vanessa, and Other Poems (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/louisa-to-strephon-1724.html, id L09257.
Form and metre
Louisa to Strephon. 1724 is 44 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 9% 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLLMMNNOOPPQQRRSSTTUUVV despiseA · diesA · trueB · youB · bedC · bredC · wifeD · lifeD · amissE · kissE · complainF · painF · nightG · delightG · singsH · kingsH · lieI · eyeI · prevailsJ · nailsJ · destroyK · joyK · raceL · embraceL · doM · youM · ghostN · hostN · bringO · kingO · campaignsP · plainsP · sportQ · courtQ · doomR · romeR · direS · expireS · woreT · toreT · giftU · shiftU · dyedV · hideV
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ah! Strephon, how can you despise | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Her, who without thy pity dies! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To Strephon I have still been true, | 8 | ········ |
| And of as noble blood as you; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Fair issue of the genial bed, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| A virgin in thy bosom bred: | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Embraced thee closer than a wife; | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| When thee I leave, I leave my life. | 8 | ········ |
| Why should my shepherd take amiss, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| That oft I wake thee with a kiss? | 8 | ········ |
| Yet you of every kiss complain; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Ah! is not love a pleasing pain? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A pain which every happy night | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| You cure with ease and with delight; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| With pleasure, as the poet sings, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Too great for mortals less than kings. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Chloe, when on thy breast I lie, | 8 | /˘······ |
| Observes me with revengeful eye: | 8 | ˘/··˘/˘· |
| If Chloe o'er thy heart prevails, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| She'll tear me with her desperate nails; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And with relentless hands destroy | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| The tender pledges of our joy. | 8 | ·/˘/˘·/· |
| Nor have I bred a spurious race; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| They all were born from thy embrace. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Consider, Strephon, what you do; | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| For, should I die for love of you, | 8 | ········ |
| I'll haunt thy dreams, a bloodless ghost; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And all my kin, (a numerous host,) | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Who down direct our lineage bring | 8 | ··˘///˘· |
| From victors o'er the Memphian king; | 9 | ·/˘··/˘˘· |
| Renown'd in sieges and campaigns, | 8 | ˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| Who never fled the bloody plains: | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Who in tempestuous seas can sport, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And scorn the pleasures of a court; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| From whom great Sylla found his doom, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Who scourged to death that scourge of Rome, | 8 | ········ |
| Shall on thee take a vengeance dire; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Thou like Alcides shalt expire, | 7 | ··/··˘/ |
| When his envenom'd shirt he wore, | 8 | ········ |
| And skin and flesh in pieces tore. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Nor less that shirt, my rival's gift, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Cut from the piece that made her shift, | 8 | ········ |
| Shall in thy dearest blood be dyed, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And make thee tear thy tainted hide. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
Notes from the edition 2
The notes to the Poems of Jonathan Swift, Volume II (Project Gutenberg #13621).
- Line 35 Plutarch tells how Sylla's body was so corrupted with these vermin, that they streamed from him into every place: pasan esthêta kai loutron kai aponimma kai sition anapimplasthai tou reumatos ekeinon kai tes phthoras. tosouton exenthei. "Vita Syllae," xxxvi.--W. E. B.
- Line 38 Hercules, who died from wearing the shirt (given him by his wife as a charm against his infidelities) stained with the blood of Nessus, the centaur, whom Hercules had slain with a poisoned arrow. Ovid, "Epist. Heroid. Deianira Herculi," and "Metam.," lib. ix, 101.--W. E. B.
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