Of English Verse
Poets may boast, as safely vain,Their works shall with the world remain:Both, bound together, live or die,The verses and the prophecy.
But who can hope his line should longLast in a daily changing tongue?While they are new, envy prevails;And as that dies, our language fails.
When architects have done their part,The matter may betray their art;Time, if we use ill-chosen stone,Soon brings a well-built palace down.
Poets that lasting marble seek,Must carve in Latin, or in Greek;We write in sand, our language grows,And like the tide, our work o'erflows.
Chaucer his sense can only boast;The glory of his numbers lost!Years have defaced his matchless strain;And yet he did not sing in vain.
The beauties which adorn'd that age,The shining subjects of his rage,Hoping they should immortal prove,Rewarded with success his love.
This was the gen'rous poet's scope;And all an English pen can hope,To make the fair approve his flame,That can so far extend their fame.
Verse, thus design'd, has no ill fate,If it arrive but at the dateOf fading beauty; if it proveBut as long-lived as present love.
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,]
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Of English Verse 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, Of English Verse, in Cooper's Hill, and Other Poems (1645–1668), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waller-denham/of-english-verse.html, id L09063.
Form and metre
Of English Verse is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 7 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 9% 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 AA-- vainA · remainA · die · prophecy
- 2 AABB longA · tongueA · prevailsB · failsB
- 3 AABB partA · artA · stoneB · downB
- 4 AABB seekA · greekA · growsB · o'erflowsB
- 5 AABB boastA · lostA · strainB · vainB
- 6 AABB ageA · rageA · proveB · loveB
- 7 AABB scopeA · hopeA · flameB · fameB
- 8 AABB fateA · dateA · proveB · loveB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Poets may boast, as safely vain, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Their works shall with the world remain: | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Both, bound together, live or die, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| The verses and the prophecy. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| But who can hope his line should long | 8 | ········ |
| Last in a daily changing tongue? | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| While they are new, envy prevails; | 8 | ····/˘˘/ |
| And as that dies, our language fails. | 8 | ····//˘· |
| When architects have done their part, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The matter may betray their art; | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Time, if we use ill-chosen stone, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Soon brings a well-built palace down. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Poets that lasting marble seek, | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| Must carve in Latin, or in Greek; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| We write in sand, our language grows, | 8 | ····//˘· |
| And like the tide, our work o'erflows. | 8 | ····/··· |
| Chaucer his sense can only boast; | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| The glory of his numbers lost! | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Years have defaced his matchless strain; | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| And yet he did not sing in vain. | 8 | ········ |
| The beauties which adorn'd that age, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| The shining subjects of his rage, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Hoping they should immortal prove, | 8 | /˘··˘/˘· |
| Rewarded with success his love. | 8 | ˘/˘·˘/·· |
| This was the gen'rous poet's scope; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And all an English pen can hope, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To make the fair approve his flame, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| That can so far extend their fame. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Verse, thus design'd, has no ill fate, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| If it arrive but at the date | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Of fading beauty; if it prove | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| But as long-lived as present love. | 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.