Wine and Venus
Ho, comrades mine!What is your pleasure?What business fineOr mirthful measure?Lo, Venus toward our crew advancing,A choir of Dryads round her dancing!
Good fellows you!The time is jolly!Earth springs anew,Bans melancholy;Bid long farewell to winter weather!Let lads and maids be blithe together.
Dame Venus spurnsHer brother Ocean;To Bacchus turns;No colder potionDeserves her godhead's approbation;On sober souls she pours damnation.
Let then this band,Imbued with learning,By Venus stand,Her wages earning!Laymen we spurn from our alliance,Like brutes to art deaf, dumb to science.
Two gods aloneWe serve and mate with;One law we own,Nor hold debate with:Who lives the goodly student fashionMust love and win love back with passion!
Words in this poem
- blithe a.
- Gay; merry; sprightly; joyous; glad; cheerful; as, a blithe spirit. [AS. bli blithe, kind; akin to Goth. blei kind, Icel. bli mild, gentle, Dan. & Sw. blid gentle, D. blijd blithe, OHG. blidi kind, blithe.]
- dame n.
- A mistress of a family, who is a lady; a womam in authority; especially, a lady. [F. dame, LL. domna, fr. L. domina mistress, lady, fem. of dominus master, ruler, lord; akin to domare to tame, subdue. See Tame, and cf. Dam mother, Dan, Danger]
- approbation n.
- Proof; attestation. [L. approbatio: cf. F. approbation. See Approve to prove.]
- damnation n.
- The state of being damned; condemnation; openly expressed disapprobation. [F. damnation, L. damnatio, fr. damnare. See Damn.]
- earning n.
- That which is earned; wages gained by work or services; money earned; -- used commonly in the plural.
- spurn v. t.
- To drive back or away, as with the foot; to kick. [OE. spurnen to kick against, to stumble over, AS. spurnan to kick, offend; akin to spura spur, OS. & OHG. spurnan to kick, Icel. spyrna, L. spernere to despise,]
- goodly a.
- Pleasant; agreeable; desirable. [OE. godlich, AS. g. See Good, and Like.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Wine and Venus 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, Wine and Venus, in Wine, Women and Song (1884), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18044, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/symonds-wine-women/wine-and-venus.html, id L11859.
Form and metre
Wine and Venus is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCC. 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.1 syllables. 18 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 ABABCC mineA · pleasureB · fineA · measureB · advancingC · dancingC
- 2 ABABCC youA · jollyB · anewA · melancholyB · weatherC · togetherC
- 3 ABABCC spurnsA · oceanB · turnsA · potionB · approbationC · damnationC
- 4 ABABCC bandA · learningB · standA · earningB · allianceC · scienceC
- 5 ABABCC aloneA · withB · ownA · withB · fashionC · passionC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ho, comrades mine! | 4 | ·/·· |
| What is your pleasure? | 5 | ···/˘ |
| What business fine | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Or mirthful measure? | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Lo, Venus toward our crew advancing, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/˘ |
| A choir of Dryads round her dancing! | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Good fellows you! | 4 | ·/˘· |
| The time is jolly! | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Earth springs anew, | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Bans melancholy; | 5 | ·/˘·˘ |
| Bid long farewell to winter weather! | 9 | ···/·/˘/˘ |
| Let lads and maids be blithe together. | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Dame Venus spurns | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Her brother Ocean; | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| To Bacchus turns; | 4 | ·/˘· |
| No colder potion | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Deserves her godhead's approbation; | 9 | ˘/·/··˘/˘ |
| On sober souls she pours damnation. | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| Let then this band, | 4 | ···· |
| Imbued with learning, | 5 | ˘/·/˘ |
| By Venus stand, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Her wages earning! | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Laymen we spurn from our alliance, | 10 | /˘···/˘˘/˘ |
| Like brutes to art deaf, dumb to science. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Two gods alone | 4 | ··˘/ |
| We serve and mate with; | 5 | ····· |
| One law we own, | 4 | ···· |
| Nor hold debate with: | 5 | ··˘/· |
| Who lives the goodly student fashion | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| Must love and win love back with passion! | 9 | ·······/˘ |
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.