Of the Lady Who Can Sleep When She Pleases
No wonder sleep from careful lovers flies,To bathe himself in Saccharissa's eyes.As fair Astraæ once from earth to heaven,By strife and loud impiety was driven;So with our plaints offended, and our tears,Wise Somnus to that paradise repairs;Waits on her will, and wretches does forsake,To court the nymph for whom those wretches wake.More proud than Phoebus of his throne of goldIs the soft god those softer limbs to hold;Nor would exchange with Jove, to hide the skiesIn dark'ning clouds, the power to close her eyes;Eyes which so far all other lights control,They warm our mortal parts, but these our soul!Let her free spirit, whose unconquer'd breastHolds such deep quiet and untroubled rest,Know that though Venus and her son should spareHer rebel heart, and never teach her care,Yet Hymen may in force his vigils keep,And for another's joy suspend her sleep.
'Large, and languishing, and lazy,Yet of a beauty that might drive you crazy.'
Words in this poem
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- impiety n.
- The quality of being impious; want of piety; irreverence toward the Supreme Being; ungodliness; wickedness. [L. impietas, fr. impius impious; cf. F. impiété. See Impious, Piety.]
- phoebus n.
- Apollo; the sun god.
- jove n.
- The chief divinity of the ancient Romans; Jupiter. [L. Jupiter, gen. Jovis, OL. Jovis, nom. & gen. for Djovis; akin to E. Tuesday. See Tuesday, and cf. Jupiter.]
- rebel a.
- Pertaining to rebels or rebellion; acting in revolt; rebellious; as, rebel troops. [F. rebelle, fr. L. rebellis. See Rebel, v. t.]
- hymen n.
- A fold of muscous membrane often found at the orifice of the vagina; the vaginal membrane.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Of the Lady Who Can Sleep When She Pleases 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 the Lady Who Can Sleep When She Pleases, in Poetical Works (1645–1668), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waller-denham/of-the-lady-who-can-sleep-when-she-pleases.html, id L09025.
Form and metre
Of the Lady Who Can Sleep When She Pleases is 22 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. 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 87%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 18% 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 AA--BBCCDDAAEEFFGGHH fliesA · eyesA · heaven · driven · tearsB · repairsB · forsakeC · wakeC · goldD · holdD · skiesA · eyesA · controlE · soulE · breastF · restF · spareG · careG · keepH · sleepH
- 2 AA lazyA · crazyA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| No wonder sleep from careful lovers flies, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| To bathe himself in Saccharissa's eyes. | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| As fair Astraæ once from earth to heaven, | 10 | ··/˘····/˘ |
| By strife and loud impiety was driven; | 11 | ····˘/˘˘·/˘ |
| So with our plaints offended, and our tears, | 10 | ··/·˘/˘·/· |
| Wise Somnus to that paradise repairs; | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Waits on her will, and wretches does forsake, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| To court the nymph for whom those wretches wake. | 10 | ·········· |
| More proud than Phoebus of his throne of gold | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Is the soft god those softer limbs to hold; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Nor would exchange with Jove, to hide the skies | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| In dark'ning clouds, the power to close her eyes; | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Eyes which so far all other lights control, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| They warm our mortal parts, but these our soul! | 10 | ··//˘···/· |
| Let her free spirit, whose unconquer'd breast | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Holds such deep quiet and untroubled rest, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Know that though Venus and her son should spare | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Her rebel heart, and never teach her care, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Yet Hymen may in force his vigils keep, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And for another's joy suspend her sleep. | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/·· |
| 'Large, and languishing, and lazy, | 8 | ··/˘˘·/˘ |
| Yet of a beauty that might drive you crazy.' | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
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.