Prologue for the Lady-Actors. Spoken Before King Charles II
Amaze us not with that majestic frown,But lay aside the greatness of your crown!And for that look which does your people awe,When in your throne and robes you give them law,Lay it by here, and give a gentler smile,Such as we see great Jove's in picture, whileHe listens to Apollo's charming lyre,Or judges of the songs he does inspire.Comedians on the stage show all their skill,And after do as Love and Fortune will.We are less careful, hid in this disguise;In our own clothes more serious and more wise.Modest at home, upon the stage more bold,We seem warm lovers, though our breasts be cold;A fault committed here deserves no scorn,If we act well the parts to which we're born.
Words in this poem
- amaze v. t.
- To bewilder; to stupefy; to bring into a maze. [Pref. a- + maze.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Prologue for the Lady-Actors. Spoken Before King Charles II 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, Prologue for the Lady-Actors. Spoken Before King Charles II, in Cooper's Hill, and Other Poems (1645–1668), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waller-denham/prologue-for-the-lady-actors-spoken-before-king-charles-ii.html, id L09114.
Form and metre
Prologue for the Lady-Actors. Spoken Before King Charles II is 16 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 6% 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHH frownA · crownA · aweB · lawB · smileC · whileC · lyreD · inspireD · skillE · willE · disguiseF · wiseF · boldG · coldG · scornH · bornH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Amaze us not with that majestic frown, | 10 | ˘/····˘/˘· |
| But lay aside the greatness of your crown! | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| And for that look which does your people awe, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| When in your throne and robes you give them law, | 10 | ·········· |
| Lay it by here, and give a gentler smile, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Such as we see great Jove's in picture, while | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| He listens to Apollo's charming lyre, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘/˘· |
| Or judges of the songs he does inspire. | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Comedians on the stage show all their skill, | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| And after do as Love and Fortune will. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| We are less careful, hid in this disguise; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| In our own clothes more serious and more wise. | 10 | ·/···/˘··· |
| Modest at home, upon the stage more bold, | 10 | /˘········ |
| We seem warm lovers, though our breasts be cold; | 10 | ···/˘·/··· |
| A fault committed here deserves no scorn, | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/·· |
| If we act well the parts to which we're born. | 10 | ·········· |
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.