Book II: Elegy the Second: A Birthday Wish
Burn incense now! and round our altars fairWith cheerful vows or sacred silence stand!To-day Cerinthus' birth our rites declare,With perfumes from the blest Arabian land.
Let his own Genius to our festal haste,While fresh-blown flowers his heavenly tresses twineAnd balm-anointed brows; so let him tasteOur offered loaf and sweet, unstinted wine!
To thee Cerinthus may his favoring careGrant every wish! O claim some priceless meed!Ask a fond wife thy life-long bliss to share--Nay! This the great gods have long since decreed!
Less than this gift were lordship of wide fields,Where slow-paced yoke and swain compel the corn;Less, all rich gems the womb of India yields,Where the flushed Ocean rims the shores of Morn.
Thy vow is granted! Lo! on pinions bright,The Love-god comes, a yellow cincture bearing,To bind thee ever to thy dear delight,In nuptial knot, all other knots outwearing.
When wrinkles delve, and o'er the reverend browFall silver locks and few, the bond shall beBut more endeared; and thou shall bless this vowO'er children's children smiling at thy knee.
Words in this poem
- festal a.
- Of or pertaining to a holiday or a feast; joyous; festive. [L. festum holiday, feast. See feast.]
- priceless a.
- Too valuable to admit of being appraised; of inestimable worth; invaluable.
- meed v. t.
- To reward; to repay. Waytt.
- womb n.
- The belly; the abdomen. [OE. wombe, wambe, AS. wamb, womb; akin to D. wam belly, OS. & OHG. wamba, G. wamme, wampe, Icel. vömb, Sw. v&mb, Dan. vom, Goth. wamba.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- cincture n.
- A belt, a girdle, or something worn round the body, -- as by an ecclesiastic for confining the alb. [L. cinctura, fr. cingere, cinctum, to gird.]
- reverend a.
- Worthy of reverence; entitled to respect mingled with fear and affection; venerable. [F. révérend, L. reverendus, fr. revereri. See Revere.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book II: Elegy the Second: A Birthday Wish is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Elegies, Project Gutenberg ebook #9610, the Theodore Chickering Williams translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Tibullus, Book II: Elegy the Second: A Birthday Wish, in The Elegies (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9610, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tibullus-elegies/book-ii-elegy-the-second-a-birthday-wish.html, id L14425.
Form and metre
Book II: Elegy the Second: A Birthday Wish is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends 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 pentameter.
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 ABAB fairA · standB · declareA · landB
- 2 ABAB hasteA · twineB · tasteA · wineB
- 3 ABAB careA · meedB · shareA · decreedB
- 4 ABAB fieldsA · cornB · yieldsA · mornB
- 5 ABAB brightA · bearingB · delightA · outwearingB
- 6 ABAB browA · beB · vowA · kneeB
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Burn incense now! and round our altars fair | 10 | ·/····//˘· |
| With cheerful vows or sacred silence stand! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| To-day Cerinthus' birth our rites declare, | 10 | ······/·˘/ |
| With perfumes from the blest Arabian land. | 10 | ·˘/···˘/˘· |
| Let his own Genius to our festal haste, | 10 | ···/˘·//˘· |
| While fresh-blown flowers his heavenly tresses twine | 10 | ···/·/˘/˘· |
| And balm-anointed brows; so let him taste | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Our offered loaf and sweet, unstinted wine! | 10 | //˘······· |
| To thee Cerinthus may his favoring care | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Grant every wish! O claim some priceless meed! | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Ask a fond wife thy life-long bliss to share-- | 10 | ·········· |
| Nay! This the great gods have long since decreed! | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Less than this gift were lordship of wide fields, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Where slow-paced yoke and swain compel the corn; | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Less, all rich gems the womb of India yields, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Where the flushed Ocean rims the shores of Morn. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Thy vow is granted! Lo! on pinions bright, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The Love-god comes, a yellow cincture bearing, | 11 | ·····/˘/˘/˘ |
| To bind thee ever to thy dear delight, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| In nuptial knot, all other knots outwearing. | 11 | ·/˘··/˘···· |
| When wrinkles delve, and o'er the reverend brow | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Fall silver locks and few, the bond shall be | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| But more endeared; and thou shall bless this vow | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| O'er children's children smiling at thy knee. | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
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.