Poem XVII
"Si linguis angelicisLoquar et humanis."
"Ave formosissima,Gemma pretiosa;Ave decus virginum,Virgo gloriosa!"
"Blanziflor et Helena,Venus generosa."
"What more? Around the maiden's neckMy arms I flung with yearning;Upon her lips I gave and tookA thousand kisses burning:Again and yet again I cried,With whispered vows and sighing,This, this alone, sure, sure it wasFor which my heart was dying!
"Who is the man that does not knowThe sweets that followed after?My former pains, my sobs and woe,Were changed for love and laughter:The joys of Paradise were oursIn overflowing measure;We tasted every shape of blissAnd every form of pleasure."
Words in this poem
- gemma n.
- A leaf bud, as distinguished from a flower bud. [L., a bud.]
- gloriosa n.
- A genus of climbing plants with very showy lilylike blossoms, natives of India. [Nl., fr. L. gloriosus. See Glorious.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Poem XVII 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, Poem XVII, in Wine, Women and Song (1884), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18044, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/symonds-wine-women/poem-xvii.html, id L11837.
Form and metre
Poem XVII is 24 lines in 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.3 syllables. 9 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% 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 AA angelicisA · humanisA
- 2 -A-A formosissima · pretiosaA · virginum · gloriosaA
- 4 -A-A-B-B neck · yearningA · took · burningA · cried · sighingB · was · dyingB
- 5 ABAB-C-C knowA · afterB · woeA · laughterB · ours · measureC · bliss · pleasureC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| "Si linguis angelicis | 7 | ······· |
| Loquar et humanis." | 6 | ······ |
| "Ave formosissima, | 8 | /˘˘····· |
| Gemma pretiosa; | 5 | /˘··· |
| Ave decus virginum, | 8 | /˘˘····· |
| Virgo gloriosa!" | 5 | /˘··· |
| "Blanziflor et Helena, | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Venus generosa." | 6 | /˘···· |
| "What more? Around the maiden's neck | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| My arms I flung with yearning; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Upon her lips I gave and took | 8 | ········ |
| A thousand kisses burning: | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| Again and yet again I cried, | 8 | ˘/··˘/·· |
| With whispered vows and sighing, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| This, this alone, sure, sure it was | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| For which my heart was dying! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| "Who is the man that does not know | 8 | ········ |
| The sweets that followed after? | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| My former pains, my sobs and woe, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Were changed for love and laughter: | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The joys of Paradise were ours | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| In overflowing measure; | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| We tasted every shape of bliss | 9 | ·/˘/˘˘··· |
| And every form of pleasure." | 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.