Book IV: Elegy the Thirteenth: A Lover's Oath
No! ne'er shall rival lure me from thine arms!(In such sweet bond did our first sighs agree!)Save for thine own I see no woman's charms;No maid in all the world is fair but thee.
Would that no eyes but mine could find thee fair!Displease those others! Save me this annoy!I ask not envy nor the people's stare:--Wisest is he who loves with silent joy.
With thee in gloomy woods my life were gay,Where pathway ne'er was found for human feet,Thou art my balm of care, in dark my day,In wildest waste, society complete.
If Heaven should send a goddess to my bed,All were in vain. My pulse would never rise.I swear thee this by Juno's holy head--Greatest to us of all who hold the skies.
What madness this? I give away my case!Swear a fool's oath! Thy tears my safety won.Now wilt thou flirt, and tease me to my face--Such mischief has my babbling fully done.
Now am I but thy slave: yet thine remain,My mistress' yoke I never shall undo.To Venus' altar let me drag my chain!She brands the proud, and smiles on lovers true.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- displease v. i.
- To give displeasure or offense.
- pathway n.
- A footpath; a beaten track; any path or course. Also used figuratively.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book IV: Elegy the Thirteenth: A Lover's Oath 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 IV: Elegy the Thirteenth: A Lover's Oath, in The Elegies (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9610, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tibullus-elegies/book-iv-elegy-the-thirteenth-a-lover-s-oath.html, id L14436.
Form and metre
Book IV: Elegy the Thirteenth: A Lover's Oath 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 91%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables.
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 armsA · agreeB · charmsA · theeB
- 2 ABAB fairA · annoyB · stareA · joyB
- 3 ABAB gayA · feetB · dayA · completeB
- 4 ABAB bedA · riseB · headA · skiesB
- 5 ABAB caseA · wonB · faceA · doneB
- 6 ABAB remainA · undoB · chainA · trueB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| No! ne'er shall rival lure me from thine arms! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| (In such sweet bond did our first sighs agree!) | 10 | ·····/··˘/ |
| Save for thine own I see no woman's charms; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| No maid in all the world is fair but thee. | 10 | ·········· |
| Would that no eyes but mine could find thee fair! | 10 | ·········· |
| Displease those others! Save me this annoy! | 10 | ˘/·/˘···˘/ |
| I ask not envy nor the people's stare:-- | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Wisest is he who loves with silent joy. | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| With thee in gloomy woods my life were gay, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Where pathway ne'er was found for human feet, | 10 | ·/·····/˘· |
| Thou art my balm of care, in dark my day, | 10 | ·········· |
| In wildest waste, society complete. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘˘/ |
| If Heaven should send a goddess to my bed, | 10 | ·/···/˘··· |
| All were in vain. My pulse would never rise. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I swear thee this by Juno's holy head-- | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Greatest to us of all who hold the skies. | 10 | /˘········ |
| What madness this? I give away my case! | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| Swear a fool's oath! Thy tears my safety won. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Now wilt thou flirt, and tease me to my face-- | 10 | ·········· |
| Such mischief has my babbling fully done. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Now am I but thy slave: yet thine remain, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| My mistress' yoke I never shall undo. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| To Venus' altar let me drag my chain! | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| She brands the proud, and smiles on lovers true. | 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.