Of Loving at First Sight
Not caring to observe the wind,Or the new sea explore,Snatch'd from myself, how far behindAlready I behold the shore!
May not a thousand dangers sleepIn the smooth bosom of this deep?No; 'tis so reckless and so clear,That the rich bottom does appearPaved all with precious things; not tornFrom shipwreck'd vessels, but there born.
Sweetness, truth, and every graceWhich time and use are wont to teach,The eye may in a moment reach,And read distinctly in her face.
Some other nymphs, with colours faint,And pencil slow, may Cupid paint,And a weak heart in time destroy;She has a stamp, and prints the boy:Can, with a single look, inflameThe coldest breast, the rudest tame.
Words in this poem
- explore v. t.
- To seek for or after; to strive to attain by search; to look wisely and carefully for. [L. explorare to explore; ex out+plorare to cry out aloud,prob. orig., to cause to flow; perh. akin to E. flow: cf. F. explorer.]
- cupid
- The god of love, son of Venus; usually represented as a naked, winged boy with bow and arrow. [L.Cupido, fr. cupido desire, desire of love, fr. cupidus. See Cupidity.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Of Loving at First Sight 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 Loving at First Sight, in Cooper's Hill, and Other Poems (1645–1668), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waller-denham/of-loving-at-first-sight.html, id L09050.
Form and metre
Of Loving at First Sight is 20 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABBCC, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 30% 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 windA · exploreB · behindA · shoreB
- 2 AABBCC sleepA · deepA · clearB · appearB · tornC · bornC
- 3 ABBA graceA · teachB · reachB · faceA
- 4 AABBCC faintA · paintA · destroyB · boyB · inflameC · tameC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Not caring to observe the wind, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Or the new sea explore, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Snatch'd from myself, how far behind | 8 | ···/···· |
| Already I behold the shore! | 8 | ˘/˘·˘/·· |
| May not a thousand dangers sleep | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| In the smooth bosom of this deep? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| No; 'tis so reckless and so clear, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That the rich bottom does appear | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Paved all with precious things; not torn | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| From shipwreck'd vessels, but there born. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Sweetness, truth, and every grace | 8 | /˘··/˘˘· |
| Which time and use are wont to teach, | 8 | ········ |
| The eye may in a moment reach, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And read distinctly in her face. | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Some other nymphs, with colours faint, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And pencil slow, may Cupid paint, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And a weak heart in time destroy; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| She has a stamp, and prints the boy: | 8 | ········ |
| Can, with a single look, inflame | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The coldest breast, the rudest tame. | 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.