Verses by Stella
If it be true, celestial powers,That you have form'd me fair,And yet, in all my vainest hours,My mind has been my care:Then, in return, I beg this grace,As you were ever kind,What envious Time takes from my faceBestow upon my mind!
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
Verses by Stella 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, Verses by Stella, in Poems, Volume II (1710–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13621, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/swift-poems/verses-by-stella.html, id L09243.
Form and metre
Verses by Stella is 8 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCD. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% 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 ABABCDCD powersA · fairB · hoursA · careB · graceC · kindD · faceC · mindD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| If it be true, celestial powers, | 9 | ····˘/˘/˘ |
| That you have form'd me fair, | 6 | ······ |
| And yet, in all my vainest hours, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| My mind has been my care: | 6 | ······ |
| Then, in return, I beg this grace, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| As you were ever kind, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| What envious Time takes from my face | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Bestow upon my mind! | 6 | ˘/···· |
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.