Puerperium
You gods that have the powerTo trouble and composeAll that's beneath your bower,Calm silence on the seas, on earth impose.
Fair Venus! in thy soft armsThe God of Rage confine;For thy whispers are the charmsWhich only can divert his fierce design.
What though he frown, and to tumult do incline?Thou the flameKindled in his breast canst tame,With that snow which unmelted lies on thine.
Great goddess! give this thy sacred island rest;Make heaven smile,That no storm disturb us whileThy chief care, our halcyon, builds her nest.
Great Gloriana! fair Gloriana!Bright as high heaven is, and fertile as earth,Whose beauty relieves us,Whose royal bed gives usBoth glory and peace,Our present joy, and all our hopes' increase.
'Puerperium ': Fenton conjectures that this poem was written in1640, when the Queen was delivered of her fourth son, the Duke ofGloucester.
Words in this poem
- duke n.
- A leader; a chief; a prince. [F. duc, fr. L. dux, ducis, leader, commander, fr. ducere to lead; akin to AS. teón to draw; cf. AS. heretoga (here army) an army leader, general, G. herzog duke]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Puerperium 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, Puerperium, in Poetical Works (1645–1668), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waller-denham/puerperium.html, id L09035.
Form and metre
Puerperium is 25 lines in 6 stanzas. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABAB, in 2 of the 6 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 36% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 powerA · composeB · bowerA · imposeB
- 2 ABAB armsA · confineB · charmsA · designB
- 3 ABBA inclineA · flameB · tameB · thineA
- 4 ABBA restA · smileB · whileB · nestA
- 5 --AABB gloriana · earth · usA · usA · peaceB · increaseB
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| You gods that have the power | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| To trouble and compose | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| All that's beneath your bower, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Calm silence on the seas, on earth impose. | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Fair Venus! in thy soft arms | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| The God of Rage confine; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| For thy whispers are the charms | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Which only can divert his fierce design. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/··˘/ |
| What though he frown, and to tumult do incline? | 11 | ······/˘·˘/ |
| Thou the flame | 3 | ··· |
| Kindled in his breast canst tame, | 7 | /˘····· |
| With that snow which unmelted lies on thine. | 10 | ·········· |
| Great goddess! give this thy sacred island rest; | 11 | ·/˘···/˘/˘· |
| Make heaven smile, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| That no storm disturb us while | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Thy chief care, our halcyon, builds her nest. | 10 | ···//˘˘··· |
| Great Gloriana! fair Gloriana! | 10 | ··˘/˘··˘/˘ |
| Bright as high heaven is, and fertile as earth, | 10 | ···/··˘/·· |
| Whose beauty relieves us, | 6 | ·/˘˘/· |
| Whose royal bed gives us | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Both glory and peace, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Our present joy, and all our hopes' increase. | 10 | //˘···/·˘/ |
| 'Puerperium ': Fenton conjectures that this poem was written in | 15 | ···/˘˘/˘··/·/˘· |
| 1640, when the Queen was delivered of her fourth son, the Duke of | 14 | ····˘/˘······· |
| Gloucester. | 2 | /˘ |
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.