The Lover and the Nightingale
These hours of spring are jolly;Maidens, be gay!Shake off dull melancholy,Ye lads, to-day!Oh! all abloom am I!It is a maiden love that makes me sigh,A new, new love it is wherewith I die!
The nightingale is singingSo sweet a lay!Her glad voice heavenward flinging--No check, no stay.
Flower of girls love-ladenIs my sweetheart;Of roses red the maidenFor whom I smart.
The promise that she gives meMakes my heart bloom;If she denies, she drives meForth to the gloom.
My maid, to me relenting,Is fain for play;Her pure heart, unconsenting,Saith, "Lover, stay!"
Hush, Philomel, thy singing,This little rest!Let the soul's song rise ringingUp from the breast!
In desolate DecembersMan bides his time:Spring stirs the slumbering embers;Love-juices climb.
Come, mistress, come, my maiden!Bring joy to me!Come, come, thou beauty-laden!I die for thee!O all abloom am I!It is a maiden love that makes me sigh,A new, new love it is wherewith I die!
"List, my fair, list, bela mia,To the thousand charms of Venus!Da hizevaleria."
Words in this poem
- abloom adv.
- In or into bloom; in a blooming state. Masson. [Pref. a- + bloom.]
- wherewith adv.
- With which; -- used relatively.
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- saith
- 3d pers. sing. pres. of Say.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Lover and the Nightingale 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, The Lover and the Nightingale, in Wine, Women and Song (1884), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18044, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/symonds-wine-women/the-lover-and-the-nightingale.html, id L11813.
Form and metre
The Lover and the Nightingale is 41 lines in 9 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 6 of its 9 stanzas. 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.2 syllables. 15 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 17% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABABCCC jollyA · gayB · melancholyA · dayB · iC · sighC · dieC
- 2 ABAB singingA · layB · flingingA · stayB
- 3 ABAB ladenA · sweetheartB · maidenA · smartB
- 4 ABAB meA · bloomB · meA · gloomB
- 5 ABAB relentingA · playB · unconsentingA · stayB
- 6 ABAB singingA · restB · ringingA · breastB
- 7 ABAB decembersA · timeB · embersA · climbB
- 8 ABABCCC maidenA · meB · ladenA · theeB · iC · sighC · dieC
- 9 A-A miaA · venus · hizevaleriaA
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| These hours of spring are jolly; | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| Maidens, be gay! | 4 | /˘·· |
| Shake off dull melancholy, | 7 | ···/˘·˘ |
| Ye lads, to-day! | 4 | ···· |
| Oh! all abloom am I! | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| It is a maiden love that makes me sigh, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| A new, new love it is wherewith I die! | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| The nightingale is singing | 7 | ·/˘˘·/˘ |
| So sweet a lay! | 4 | ···· |
| Her glad voice heavenward flinging-- | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| No check, no stay. | 4 | ···· |
| Flower of girls love-laden | 7 | /˘···/˘ |
| Is my sweetheart; | 4 | ··/· |
| Of roses red the maiden | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| For whom I smart. | 4 | ···· |
| The promise that she gives me | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Makes my heart bloom; | 4 | ···· |
| If she denies, she drives me | 7 | ··˘/··· |
| Forth to the gloom. | 4 | ···· |
| My maid, to me relenting, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Is fain for play; | 4 | ···· |
| Her pure heart, unconsenting, | 7 | ······· |
| Saith, "Lover, stay!" | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Hush, Philomel, thy singing, | 7 | ·/˘˘·/˘ |
| This little rest! | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Let the soul's song rise ringing | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Up from the breast! | 4 | ···· |
| In desolate Decembers | 7 | ·/˘˘˘/˘ |
| Man bides his time: | 4 | ···· |
| Spring stirs the slumbering embers; | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| Love-juices climb. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Come, mistress, come, my maiden! | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Bring joy to me! | 4 | ···· |
| Come, come, thou beauty-laden! | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| I die for thee! | 4 | ···· |
| O all abloom am I! | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| It is a maiden love that makes me sigh, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| A new, new love it is wherewith I die! | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| "List, my fair, list, bela mia, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| To the thousand charms of Venus! | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Da hizevaleria." | 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.