Canto IV
To glory man, or misery, is born,Of his proud foe the envy, or the scorn;Wretched he is, or happy, in extreme;Base in himself, but great in Heaven's esteem;With love, of all created things the best;Without it, more pernicious than the rest;For greedy wolves unguarded sheep devourBut while their hunger lasts, and then give o'er;Man's boundless avarice his wants exceeds,And on his neighbours round about him feeds.
His pride and vain ambition are so vast,That, deluge-like, they lay whole nations waste.Debauches and excess (though with less noise)As great a portion of mankind destroys.The beasts and monsters Hercules oppress'd,Might in that age some provinces infest;These more destructive monsters are the baneOf every age, and in all nations reign;But soon would vanish, if the world were bless'dWith sacred love, by which they are repress'd.
Impendent death, and guilt that threatens hell,Are dreadful guests, which here with mortals dwell;And a vex'd conscience, mingling with their joyThoughts of despair, does their whole life annoy;But love appearing, all those terrors fly;We live contented, and contented die.They in whose breast this sacred love has place,Death, as a passage to their joy, embrace.Clouds and thick vapours, which obscure the day,The sun's victorious beams may chase away;Those which our life corrupt and darken, love(The nobler star!) must from the soul remove.Spots are observed in that which bounds the year;This brighter sun moves in a boundless sphere;Of heaven the joy, the glory, and the light,Shines among angels, and admits no night.
Words in this poem
- avarice n.
- An excessive or inordinate desire of gain; greediness after wealth; covetousness; cupidity. [F. avaritia, fr. avarus avaricious, prob. fr. av to covert, fr. a root av to satiate one's self: cf. Gr. av to satiate one's self, rejoice, protect.]
- bane v. t.
- To be the bane of; to ruin. Fuller.
- impendent a.
- Impending; threatening. [L. impendens, p. pr. of impendere.]
- dreadful a.
- Full of dread or terror; fearful.
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- conscience n.
- Knowledge of one's own thoughts or actions; consciousness. [F. conscience, fr. L. conscientia, fr. consciens, p.pr. of conscire to know, to be conscious; con- + scire to know. See Science.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Canto IV is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poetical Works of Edmund Waller and Sir John Denham, Project Gutenberg ebook #12322; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edmund Waller, Canto IV, in Poetical Works (1645–1668), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waller-denham/canto-iv.html, id L09137.
Form and metre
Canto IV is 36 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 89% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AABBCC--DD bornA · scornA · extremeB · esteemB · bestC · restC · devour · o'er · exceedsD · feedsD
- 2 --AABBCCBB vast · waste · noiseA · destroysA · oppress'dB · infestB · baneC · reignC · bless'dB · repress'dB
- 3 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHH hellA · dwellA · joyB · annoyB · flyC · dieC · placeD · embraceD · dayE · awayE · loveF · removeF · yearG · sphereG · lightH · nightH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| To glory man, or misery, is born, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| Of his proud foe the envy, or the scorn; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Wretched he is, or happy, in extreme; | 10 | /˘···/˘·˘/ |
| Base in himself, but great in Heaven's esteem; | 11 | ··˘/···/˘˘/ |
| With love, of all created things the best; | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Without it, more pernicious than the rest; | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| For greedy wolves unguarded sheep devour | 11 | ·/˘·˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| But while their hunger lasts, and then give o'er; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Man's boundless avarice his wants exceeds, | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘··˘/ |
| And on his neighbours round about him feeds. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| His pride and vain ambition are so vast, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| That, deluge-like, they lay whole nations waste. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Debauches and excess (though with less noise) | 9 | /˘·˘/···· |
| As great a portion of mankind destroys. | 10 | ···/˘·//˘/ |
| The beasts and monsters Hercules oppress'd, | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Might in that age some provinces infest; | 10 | ·····/˘˘˘/ |
| These more destructive monsters are the bane | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Of every age, and in all nations reign; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| But soon would vanish, if the world were bless'd | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| With sacred love, by which they are repress'd. | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Impendent death, and guilt that threatens hell, | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| Are dreadful guests, which here with mortals dwell; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And a vex'd conscience, mingling with their joy | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Thoughts of despair, does their whole life annoy; | 10 | ··˘/····˘/ |
| But love appearing, all those terrors fly; | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| We live contented, and contented die. | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| They in whose breast this sacred love has place, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Death, as a passage to their joy, embrace. | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Clouds and thick vapours, which obscure the day, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| The sun's victorious beams may chase away; | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| Those which our life corrupt and darken, love | 10 | ··/·˘/·/˘· |
| (The nobler star!) must from the soul remove. | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Spots are observed in that which bounds the year; | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| This brighter sun moves in a boundless sphere; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Of heaven the joy, the glory, and the light, | 10 | ·/···/˘··· |
| Shines among angels, and admits no night. | 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.