The Lover's Monologue
Love rules everything that is:Love doth change hearts in a kiss:Love seeks devious ways of bliss:Love than honey sweeter,Love than gall more bitter.Blind Love hath no modesties.Love is lukewarm, fiery, cold;Love is timid, overbold;Loyal, treacherous, manifold.
Present time is fit for play:Let Love find his mate to-day:Hark, the birds, how sweet their lay!Love rules young men wholly;Love lures maidens solely.Woe to old folk! sad are they.Sweetest woman ever seen,Fairest, dearest, is my queen;And alas! my chiefest teen.
Let an old man, chill and drear,Never come thy bosom near;Oft he sleeps with sorry cheer,Too cold to delight thee:Naught could less invite thee.Youth with youth must mate, my dear.Blest the union I desire;Naught I know and naught require,Better than to be thy squire.
Love flies all the world around:Love in wanton wiles is wound:Therefore youth and maid are boundIn Love's fetters duly.She is joyless trulyWho no lover yet hath found!All the night in grief and smartShe must languish, wear her heart;Bitter is that woman's part.
Love is simple, Love is sly;Love is pale, of ruddy dye:Love is all things, low and high:Love is serviceable,Constant and unstable:Love obeys Art's empery.In this closed room Love takes flight,In the silence of the night,Love made captive, conquered quite.
Words in this poem
- devious a.
- Out of a straight line; winding; varying from directness; as, a devious path or way. [L. devius; de + via way. See Viaduct.]
- lukewarm a.
- Moderately warm; neither cold nor hot; tepid; not ardent; not zealous; cool; indifferent. [See Luke.]
- overbold a.
- Excessively or presumptuously bold; impudent.
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- chiefest a.
- First or foremost; chief; principal. [Superl. of Chief.]
- teen n.
- Grief; sorrow; affiction; pain. Chaucer. [OE. tene, AS. teóna reproach, wrong, fr. teón to accuse; akin to G. zeihen, Goth. gateihan to tell, announce, L. dicere to say. See Token.]
- drear n.
- Sadness; dismalness.
- joyless a.
- Not having joy; not causing joy; unenjoyable.
- languish v. i.
- To cause to dr Shak.
- empery n.
- Empire; sovereignty; dominion. [L. imperium, influenced by OF. emperie, empire. See Empire.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Lover's Monologue 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's Monologue, in Wine, Women and Song (1884), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18044, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/symonds-wine-women/the-lover-s-monologue.html, id L11843.
Form and metre
The Lover's Monologue is 45 lines in 5 stanzas of 9 lines each. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.8 syllables. 12 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 7% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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---BBB is · kissA · blissA · sweeter · bitter · modesties · coldB · overboldB · manifoldB
- 2 AAA--ABBB playA · dayA · layA · wholly · solely · theyA · seenB · queenB · teenB
- 3 AAABBACC- drearA · nearA · cheerA · theeB · theeB · dearA · desireC · requireC · squire
- 4 AAABBACCC aroundA · woundA · boundA · dulyB · trulyB · foundA · smartC · heartC · partC
- 5 AAA---BBB slyA · dyeA · highA · serviceable · unstable · empery · flightB · nightB · quiteB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Love rules everything that is: | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Love doth change hearts in a kiss: | 7 | ······· |
| Love seeks devious ways of bliss: | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Love than honey sweeter, | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Love than gall more bitter. | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Blind Love hath no modesties. | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Love is lukewarm, fiery, cold; | 7 | ··///˘· |
| Love is timid, overbold; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Loyal, treacherous, manifold. | 7 | /˘/˘/˘· |
| Present time is fit for play: | 7 | /˘····· |
| Let Love find his mate to-day: | 7 | ······· |
| Hark, the birds, how sweet their lay! | 7 | ······· |
| Love rules young men wholly; | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Love lures maidens solely. | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Woe to old folk! sad are they. | 7 | ······· |
| Sweetest woman ever seen, | 7 | /˘/˘/˘· |
| Fairest, dearest, is my queen; | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| And alas! my chiefest teen. | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| Let an old man, chill and drear, | 7 | ······· |
| Never come thy bosom near; | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Oft he sleeps with sorry cheer, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Too cold to delight thee: | 6 | ···˘/· |
| Naught could less invite thee. | 6 | ···˘/· |
| Youth with youth must mate, my dear. | 7 | ······· |
| Blest the union I desire; | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Naught I know and naught require, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Better than to be thy squire. | 7 | /˘····· |
| Love flies all the world around: | 7 | ······· |
| Love in wanton wiles is wound: | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Therefore youth and maid are bound | 7 | ······· |
| In Love's fetters duly. | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| She is joyless truly | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Who no lover yet hath found! | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| All the night in grief and smart | 7 | ······· |
| She must languish, wear her heart; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Bitter is that woman's part. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Love is simple, Love is sly; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Love is pale, of ruddy dye: | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Love is all things, low and high: | 7 | ······· |
| Love is serviceable, | 6 | ··/˘˘˘ |
| Constant and unstable: | 6 | /˘·˘/˘ |
| Love obeys Art's empery. | 7 | ·˘/·/˘˘ |
| In this closed room Love takes flight, | 7 | ······· |
| In the silence of the night, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Love made captive, conquered quite. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
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.