On the Discovery of a Lady's Painting
Pygmalion's fate reversed is mine;His marble love took flesh and blood;All that I worshipp'd as divine,That beauty! now 'tis understood,Appears to have no more of lifeThan that whereof he framed his wife.
As women yet, who apprehendSome sudden cause of causeless fear,Although that seeming cause take end,And they behold no danger near,A shaking through their limbs they find,Like leaves saluted by the wind:
So though the beauty do appearNo beauty, which amazed me so;Yet from my breast I cannot tearThe passion which from thence did grow;Nor yet out of my fancy razeThe print of that supposèd face.
A real beauty, though too near,The fond Narcissus did admire:I dote on that which is nowhere;The sign of beauty feeds my fire.No mortal flame was e'er so cruelAs this, which thus survives the fuel!
Words in this poem
- whereof adv.
- Of which; of whom; formerly, also, with which; -- used relatively.
- causeless a.
- 1. Self-originating; uncreated.
- raze n.
- A Shakespearean word (used once) supposed to mean the same as race, a root. [See Rack.]
- narcissus n.
- A genus of endogenous bulbous plants with handsome flowers, having a cup-shaped crown within the six-lobed perianth, and comprising the daffodils and jonquils of several kinds. [L. narcissus, and (personified) Narcissus, Gr. na`rkissos, Na`rkissos, fr. na`rkh torpor, in allusion to the narcotic properties of the flower. Cf. Narcotic.]
- admire v. t.
- To regard with wonder or astonishment; to view with surprise; to marvel at. [F. admirer, fr. L. admirari; ad + mirari to wonder, for smirari, akin to Gr. smi, and E. smile.]
- dote n.
- A marriage portion. See 1st Dot, n. Wyatt. [See Dot dowry.]
- nowhere adv.
- Not anywhere; not in any place or state; as, the book is nowhere to be found. [AS. nahwær. See No, and Where.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the Discovery of a Lady's Painting 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, On the Discovery of a Lady's Painting, in Poetical Works (1645–1668), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waller-denham/on-the-discovery-of-a-lady-s-painting.html, id L09049.
Form and metre
On the Discovery of a Lady's Painting is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 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 ABABCC mineA · bloodB · divineA · understoodB · lifeC · wifeC
- 2 ABABCC apprehendA · fearB · endA · nearB · findC · windC
- 3 ABAB-- appearA · soB · tearA · growB · raze · face
- 4 ABABCC nearA · admireB · nowhereA · fireB · cruelC · fuelC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Pygmalion's fate reversed is mine; | 9 | ·/˘·˘/˘·· |
| His marble love took flesh and blood; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| All that I worshipp'd as divine, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| That beauty! now 'tis understood, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Appears to have no more of life | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Than that whereof he framed his wife. | 9 | ······˘·· |
| As women yet, who apprehend | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Some sudden cause of causeless fear, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Although that seeming cause take end, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And they behold no danger near, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| A shaking through their limbs they find, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Like leaves saluted by the wind: | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| So though the beauty do appear | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| No beauty, which amazed me so; | 9 | ·/˘·˘/˘·· |
| Yet from my breast I cannot tear | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The passion which from thence did grow; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Nor yet out of my fancy raze | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The print of that supposèd face. | 7 | ······· |
| A real beauty, though too near, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| The fond Narcissus did admire: | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| I dote on that which is nowhere; | 8 | ······/· |
| The sign of beauty feeds my fire. | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| No mortal flame was e'er so cruel | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| As this, which thus survives the fuel! | 9 | ····˘/·/˘ |
Notes from the edition 1
George Gilfillan's notes to the Poetical Works of Edmund Waller and Sir John Denham (1857; Project Gutenberg #12322).
- Stanza 1, line 1 'Mine': Ovid, Met. x.
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