Of Her Chamber
They taste of death that do at heaven arrive;But we this paradise approach alive.Instead of death, the dart of love does strike,And renders all within these walls alike.The high in titles, and the shepherd, hereForgets his greatness, and forgets his fear.All stand amazed, and gazing on the fair,Lose thought of what themselves or others are;Ambition lose, and have no other scope,Save Carlisle's favour, to employ their hope.The Thracian could (though all those tales were trueThe bold Greeks tell) no greater wonders do;Before his feet so sheep and lions lay,Fearless and wrathless while they heard him play.The gay, the wise, the gallant, and the grave,Subdued alike, all but one passion have;No worthy mind but finds in hers there isSomething proportion'd to the rule of his;While she with cheerful, but impartial grace,(Born for no one, but to delight the raceOf men) like Phoebus so divides her light,And warms us, that she stoops not from her height.
Words in this poem
- favour n.
- Kind regard; propitious aspect; countenance; friendly disposition; kindness; good will. [Written also favour.]
- thracian a.
- Of or pertaining to Thrace, or its people.
- wrathless a.
- Free from anger or wrath. Waller.
- phoebus n.
- Apollo; the sun god.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Of Her Chamber 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 Her Chamber, in Cooper's Hill, and Other Poems (1645–1668), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waller-denham/of-her-chamber.html, id L09022.
Form and metre
Of Her Chamber is 22 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 91% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 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 AABBCCC-DDEEFFGGHHIIJJ arriveA · aliveA · strikeB · alikeB · hereC · fearC · fairC · are · scopeD · hopeD · trueE · doE · layF · playF · graveG · haveG · isH · hisH · graceI · raceI · lightJ · heightJ
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 |
|---|---|---|
| They taste of death that do at heaven arrive; | 10 | ·······/˘/ |
| But we this paradise approach alive. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘/ |
| Instead of death, the dart of love does strike, | 10 | ˘/········ |
| And renders all within these walls alike. | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| The high in titles, and the shepherd, here | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Forgets his greatness, and forgets his fear. | 10 | ˘/·/˘·˘/·· |
| All stand amazed, and gazing on the fair, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Lose thought of what themselves or others are; | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| Ambition lose, and have no other scope, | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| Save Carlisle's favour, to employ their hope. | 10 | ·/·/˘·˘/·· |
| The Thracian could (though all those tales were true | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The bold Greeks tell) no greater wonders do; | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Before his feet so sheep and lions lay, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Fearless and wrathless while they heard him play. | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| The gay, the wise, the gallant, and the grave, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Subdued alike, all but one passion have; | 10 | ˘/˘/···/˘· |
| No worthy mind but finds in hers there is | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Something proportion'd to the rule of his; | 10 | /˘˘/˘····· |
| While she with cheerful, but impartial grace, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| (Born for no one, but to delight the race | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Of men) like Phoebus so divides her light, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| And warms us, that she stoops not from her height. | 10 | ·········· |
Notes from the edition 1
George Gilfillan's notes to the Poetical Works of Edmund Waller and Sir John Denham (1857; Project Gutenberg #12322).
- Line 11 'Thracian': Orpheus.--
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