A Carol of Wine
In dulci jubiloSing we, make merry so!Since our heart's pleasureLatet in poculo,Drawn from the cask, good measure.Pro hoc convivio,Nunc, nunc bibito!
O crater parvule!How my soul yearns for thee!Make me now merry,O potus optime,Claret or hock or sherry!Et vos concinite:Vivant socii!
O vini caritas!O Bacchi lenitas!We've drained our pursesPer multa pocula:Yet hope we for new mercies,Nummoram gaudia:Would that we had them, ah!
Ubi sunt gaudia? where,If that they be not there?There the lads are singingSelecta cantica:There are glasses ringingIn villae curia;Oh, would that we were there!
Words in this poem
- crater n.
- The basinlike opening or mouth of a volcano, through which the chief eruption comes; similarly, the mouth of a gevser, about which a cone of silica is often built up. [L. crater, cratera, a mixing vessel, the mouth of a volcano, Gr. ir to cook, Crail, in Holy Grail.]
- optime n.
- One of those who stand in the second rank of honors, immediately after the wranglers, in the University of Cambridge, England. They are divided into senior and junior optimes. [L., adv. fr. optimus the best.]
- claret n.
- The name firat given in England to the red wines of M [OE. claret, clare, clarry, OF. claret, clar, fr. cler, F. clair, clear, fr. L. clarus clear. See Clear.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Carol of Wine is in the public domain. This text is taken from Wine, Women, and Song Mediaeval Latin Students' songs; Now first translated into English verse, Project Gutenberg ebook #18044; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Addington Symonds, A Carol of Wine, in Wine, Women and Song (1884), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18044, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/symonds-wine-women/a-carol-of-wine.html, id L11855.
Form and metre
A Carol of Wine is 28 lines in 4 stanzas of 7 lines each. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 77%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.8 syllables. 12 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 18% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic trimeter.
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 --A-A-- jubilo · so · pleasureA · poculo · measureA · convivio · bibito
- 2 --A-A-- parvule · thee · merryA · optime · sherryA · concinite · socii
- 3 AA----- caritasA · lenitasA · purses · pocula · mercies · gaudia · ah
- 4 AAB-B-A whereA · thereA · singingB · cantica · ringingB · curia · thereA
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 trochaic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| In dulci jubilo | 6 | ······ |
| Sing we, make merry so! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Since our heart's pleasure | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| Latet in poculo, | 6 | ······ |
| Drawn from the cask, good measure. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Pro hoc convivio, | 5 | ····· |
| Nunc, nunc bibito! | 5 | ····· |
| O crater parvule! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| How my soul yearns for thee! | 6 | ······ |
| Make me now merry, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| O potus optime, | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Claret or hock or sherry! | 7 | /˘···/˘ |
| Et vos concinite: | 5 | ····· |
| Vivant socii! | 4 | ···· |
| O vini caritas! | 6 | ·/˘˘/˘ |
| O Bacchi lenitas! | 6 | ·/˘˘/˘ |
| We've drained our purses | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Per multa pocula: | 6 | ······ |
| Yet hope we for new mercies, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Nummoram gaudia: | 5 | ····· |
| Would that we had them, ah! | 6 | ······ |
| Ubi sunt gaudia? where, | 6 | ······ |
| If that they be not there? | 6 | ······ |
| There the lads are singing | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Selecta cantica: | 6 | ······ |
| There are glasses ringing | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| In villae curia; | 5 | ··/˘˘ |
| Oh, would that we were there! | 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.