The Lover's Vow
False the tongue and foul with slander,Poisonous treacherous tongue of pander,Tongue the hangman's knife should sever,Tongue in flames to burn for ever;
Which hath called me a deceiver,Faithless lover, quick to leave her,Whom I love, and leave her slighted,For another, unrequited!
Hear, ye Muses nine! nay, rather,Jove, of gods and men the father!Who for Danae and EuropaChanged thy shape, thou bold eloper!
Hear me, god! ye gods all, hear me!Such a sin came never near me.Hear, thou god! and gods all, hear ye!Thus I sinned not, as I fear ye.
I by Mars vow, by Apollo,Both of whom Love's learning follow;Yea, by Cupid too, the terrorOf whose bow forbids all error!
By thy bow I vow and quiver,By the shafts thou dost deliver,Without fraud, in honour dulyTo observe my troth-plight truly.
I will keep the troth I plighted,And the reason shall be cited:'Tis that 'mid the girls no maidenEver met I more love-laden.
'Mid the girls thou art beholdenLike a pearl in setting golden;Yea, thy shoulder, neck, and bosomBear of beauty's self the blossom.
Oh, her throat, lips, forehead, nourishLove, with food that makes him flourish!And her curls, I did adore them--They were blonde with heaven's light o'er them.
Therefore, till, for Nature's scorning,Toil is rest and midnight morning,Till no trees in woods are growing,Till fire turns to water flowing;
Till seas have no ships to sail them,Till the Parthians' arrows fail them,I, my girl, will love thee ever,Unbetrayed, betray thee never!
Words in this poem
- jove n.
- The chief divinity of the ancient Romans; Jupiter. [L. Jupiter, gen. Jovis, OL. Jovis, nom. & gen. for Djovis; akin to E. Tuesday. See Tuesday, and cf. Jupiter.]
- eloper n.
- One who elopes.
- cupid
- The god of love, son of Venus; usually represented as a naked, winged boy with bow and arrow. [L.Cupido, fr. cupido desire, desire of love, fr. cupidus. See Cupidity.]
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- troth n.
- Belief; faith; fidelity. [A variant of truth. See Truth.]
- plight v. t.
- To weave; to braid; to fold; to plait. [OE. pliten; probably through Old French, fr. LL. plectare, L. plectere. See Plait, Ply.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- beholden p. a.
- Obliged; bound in gratitude; indebted. [Old p. p. of behold, used in the primitive sense of the simple verb hold.]
- adore v. t.
- To worship with profound reverence; to pay divine honors to; to honor as deity or as divine. [OE. aouren, anouren, adoren, OF. aorer, adorer, F. adorer, fr. L. adorare; ad + orare to speak, pray, os, oris, mouth. In OE. confused with honor, the French pr]
- blonde a.
- Of a fair color; light-colored; as, blond hair; a blond complexion. [F., fair, light, of uncertain origin; cf. AS. blonden-feax gray-haired, old, prop. blended-haired, as a mixture of white and brown or black. See Blend, v. t.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Lover's Vow 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 Vow, in Wine, Women and Song (1884), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18044, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/symonds-wine-women/the-lover-s-vow.html, id L11847.
Form and metre
The Lover's Vow is 44 lines in 11 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 7 of its 11 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 35 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 16% 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 AABB slanderA · panderA · severB · everB
- 2 --AA deceiver · her · slightedA · unrequitedA
- 4 AAAA meA · meA · yeA · yeA
- 5 AABB apolloA · followA · terrorB · errorB
- 6 AABB quiverA · deliverA · dulyB · trulyB
- 7 AABB plightedA · citedA · maidenB · ladenB
- 8 AA-- beholdenA · goldenA · bosom · blossom
- 9 AABB nourishA · flourishA · themB · themB
- 10 AABB scorningA · morningA · growingB · flowingB
- 11 AABB themA · themA · everB · neverB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| False the tongue and foul with slander, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Poisonous treacherous tongue of pander, | 9 | /˘/˘˘··/˘ |
| Tongue the hangman's knife should sever, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Tongue in flames to burn for ever; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Which hath called me a deceiver, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Faithless lover, quick to leave her, | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| Whom I love, and leave her slighted, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| For another, unrequited! | 8 | ·˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Hear, ye Muses nine! nay, rather, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Jove, of gods and men the father! | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Who for Danae and Europa | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Changed thy shape, thou bold eloper! | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Hear me, god! ye gods all, hear me! | 8 | ········ |
| Such a sin came never near me. | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Hear, thou god! and gods all, hear ye! | 8 | ········ |
| Thus I sinned not, as I fear ye. | 8 | ········ |
| I by Mars vow, by Apollo, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Both of whom Love's learning follow; | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Yea, by Cupid too, the terror | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Of whose bow forbids all error! | 8 | ···˘/·/˘ |
| By thy bow I vow and quiver, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| By the shafts thou dost deliver, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Without fraud, in honour duly | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| To observe my troth-plight truly. | 8 | ·˘/···/˘ |
| I will keep the troth I plighted, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And the reason shall be cited: | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| 'Tis that 'mid the girls no maiden | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Ever met I more love-laden. | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| 'Mid the girls thou art beholden | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Like a pearl in setting golden; | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Yea, thy shoulder, neck, and bosom | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Bear of beauty's self the blossom. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Oh, her throat, lips, forehead, nourish | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Love, with food that makes him flourish! | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And her curls, I did adore them-- | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| They were blonde with heaven's light o'er them. | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Therefore, till, for Nature's scorning, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Toil is rest and midnight morning, | 8 | ····/·/˘ |
| Till no trees in woods are growing, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Till fire turns to water flowing; | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Till seas have no ships to sail them, | 8 | ········ |
| Till the Parthians' arrows fail them, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| I, my girl, will love thee ever, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Unbetrayed, betray thee never! | 8 | ··˘˘/·/˘ |
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