Pride
Not the brave Macedonian youth alone,But base Caligula, when on the throne,Boundless in power, would make himself a god,As if the world depended on his nod.The Syrian king to beasts was headlong thrown,Ere to himself he could be mortal known.The meanest wretch, if Heaven should give him line,Would never stop till he were thought divine.All might within discern the serpent's pride,If from ourselves nothing ourselves did hide.Let the proud peacock his gay feathers spread,And woo the female to his painted bed;Let winds and seas together rage and swell--This Nature teaches, and becomes them well.'Pride was not made for men;' a conscious senseOf guilt, and folly, and their consequence,Destroys the claim, and to beholders tells,Here nothing but the shape of manhood dwells.
'Macedonian youth': Alexander.'Syrian king': Nebuchadnezzar.'For men': Ecclus. x. 18.
Words in this poem
- macedonian a.
- Belonging, or relating, to Macedonia.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Pride 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, Pride, in Poetical Works (1645–1668), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waller-denham/pride.html, id L09128.
Form and metre
Pride is 21 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.7 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See 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 AABBAACCDDEEFFGGHH aloneA · throneA · godB · nodB · thrownA · knownA · lineC · divineC · prideD · hideD · spreadE · bedE · swellF · wellF · senseG · consequenceG · tellsH · dwellsH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Not the brave Macedonian youth alone, | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| But base Caligula, when on the throne, | 10 | ·········· |
| Boundless in power, would make himself a god, | 10 | /˘·/··˘/·· |
| As if the world depended on his nod. | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| The Syrian king to beasts was headlong thrown, | 10 | ·/˘····/·· |
| Ere to himself he could be mortal known. | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| The meanest wretch, if Heaven should give him line, | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| Would never stop till he were thought divine. | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| All might within discern the serpent's pride, | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| If from ourselves nothing ourselves did hide. | 10 | ··˘//˘˘/·· |
| Let the proud peacock his gay feathers spread, | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| And woo the female to his painted bed; | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| Let winds and seas together rage and swell-- | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| This Nature teaches, and becomes them well. | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/·· |
| 'Pride was not made for men;' a conscious sense | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Of guilt, and folly, and their consequence, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| Destroys the claim, and to beholders tells, | 10 | ˘/····˘/˘· |
| Here nothing but the shape of manhood dwells. | 10 | ·/˘····/·· |
| 'Macedonian youth': Alexander. | 9 | ·˘/˘··˘/˘ |
| 'Syrian king': Nebuchadnezzar. | 9 | /˘˘······ |
| 'For men': Ecclus. x. 18. | 5 | ····· |
Notes from the edition 3
George Gilfillan's notes to the Poetical Works of Edmund Waller and Sir John Denham (1857; Project Gutenberg #12322).
- Stanza 1, line 1 'Macedonian youth': Alexander.
- Stanza 1, line 5 'Syrian king': Nebuchadnezzar.
- Stanza 1, line 15 'For men': Ecclus. x. 18.
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