Go, Lovely Rose!
Go, lovely Rose!Tell her that wastes her time and me,That now she knows,When I resemble her to thee,How sweet and fair she seems to be.
Tell her that's young,And shuns to have her graces spied,That hadst thou sprungIn deserts, where no men abide,Thou must have uncommended died.
Small is the worthOf beauty from the light retired;Bid her come forth,Suffer herself to be desired,And not blush so to be admired.
Then die! that sheThe common fate of all things rareMay read in thee;How small a part of time they shareThat are so wondrous sweet and fair!
Words in this poem
- admired a.
- Regarded with wonder and delight; highly prized; as, an admired poem.
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Go, Lovely Rose! 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, Go, Lovely Rose!, in Cooper's Hill, and Other Poems (1645–1668), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waller-denham/go-lovely-rose.html, id L09111.
Form and metre
Go, Lovely Rose! is 20 lines in 4 stanzas of 5 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.7 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% 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 ABABB roseA · meB · knowsA · theeB · beB
- 2 ABABB youngA · spiedB · sprungA · abideB · diedB
- 3 ABABB worthA · retiredB · forthA · desiredB · admiredB
- 4 ABABB sheA · rareB · theeA · shareB · fairB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Go, lovely Rose! | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Tell her that wastes her time and me, | 8 | ········ |
| That now she knows, | 4 | ···· |
| When I resemble her to thee, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| How sweet and fair she seems to be. | 8 | ········ |
| Tell her that's young, | 4 | ···· |
| And shuns to have her graces spied, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That hadst thou sprung | 4 | ···· |
| In deserts, where no men abide, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Thou must have uncommended died. | 8 | ········ |
| Small is the worth | 4 | ···· |
| Of beauty from the light retired; | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Bid her come forth, | 4 | ···· |
| Suffer herself to be desired, | 9 | /˘˘/··˘/˘ |
| And not blush so to be admired. | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Then die! that she | 4 | ···· |
| The common fate of all things rare | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| May read in thee; | 4 | ···· |
| How small a part of time they share | 8 | ········ |
| That are so wondrous sweet and fair! | 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.