Chloris! Farewell
Chloris! farewell. I now must go;For if with thee I longer stay,Thy eyes prevail upon me so,I shall prove blind, and lose my way.
Fame of thy beauty, and thy youth,Among the rest, me hither brought;Finding this fame fall short of truth,Made me stay longer than I thought.
For I'm engaged by word and oath,A servant to another's will;Yet, for thy love, I'd forfeit both,Could I be sure to keep it still.
But what assurance can I take,When thou, foreknowing this abuse,For some more worthy lover's sake,Mayst leave me with so just excuse?
For thou mayst say, 'twas not thy faultThat thou didst thus inconstant prove;Being by my example taughtTo break thy oath, to mend thy love.
No, Chloris! no: I will return,And raise thy story to that height,That strangers shall at distance burn,And she distrust me reprobate.
Then shall my love this doubt displace,And gain such trust, that I may comeAnd banquet sometimes on thy face,But make my constant meals at home.
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,]
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- reprobate a.
- Not enduring proof or trial; not of standard purity or fineness; disallowed; rejected. [L. reprobatus, p. p. of reprobare to disapprove, condemn. See Reprieve, Reprove.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chloris! Farewell 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, Chloris! Farewell, in Poetical Works (1645–1668), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waller-denham/chloris-farewell.html, id L09107.
Form and metre
Chloris! Farewell is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 6 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 11% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic 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 ABAB goA · stayB · soA · wayB
- 2 ABAB youthA · broughtB · truthA · thoughtB
- 3 ABAB oathA · willB · bothA · stillB
- 4 ABAB takeA · abuseB · sakeA · excuseB
- 5 -A-A fault · proveA · taught · loveA
- 6 ABAB returnA · heightB · burnA · reprobateB
- 7 ABAB displaceA · comeB · faceA · homeB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Chloris! farewell. I now must go; | 8 | /˘·/···· |
| For if with thee I longer stay, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Thy eyes prevail upon me so, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| I shall prove blind, and lose my way. | 8 | ········ |
| Fame of thy beauty, and thy youth, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Among the rest, me hither brought; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Finding this fame fall short of truth, | 8 | /˘······ |
| Made me stay longer than I thought. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| For I'm engaged by word and oath, | 9 | ··˘/˘···· |
| A servant to another's will; | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Yet, for thy love, I'd forfeit both, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Could I be sure to keep it still. | 8 | ········ |
| But what assurance can I take, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| When thou, foreknowing this abuse, | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| For some more worthy lover's sake, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Mayst leave me with so just excuse? | 8 | ······˘/ |
| For thou mayst say, 'twas not thy fault | 8 | ········ |
| That thou didst thus inconstant prove; | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Being by my example taught | 8 | /˘··˘/˘· |
| To break thy oath, to mend thy love. | 8 | ········ |
| No, Chloris! no: I will return, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| And raise thy story to that height, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That strangers shall at distance burn, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And she distrust me reprobate. | 8 | ··˘/·/˘˘ |
| Then shall my love this doubt displace, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And gain such trust, that I may come | 8 | ········ |
| And banquet sometimes on thy face, | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| But make my constant meals at home. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
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.