The Self-Banished
It is not that I love you less,Than when before your feet I lay;But to prevent the sad increaseOf hopeless love, I keep away.
In vain, alas! for everythingWhich I have known belong to you,Your form does to my fancy bring,And makes my old wounds bleed anew.
Who in the spring, from the new sun,Already has a fever got,Too late begins those shafts to shun,Which Phoebus through his veins has shot;
Too late he would the pain assuage,And to thick shadows does retire;About with him he bears the rage,And in his tainted blood the fire.
But vow'd I have, and never mustYour banish'd servant trouble you;For if I break, you may mistrustThe vow I made--to love you too.
Words in this poem
- phoebus n.
- Apollo; the sun god.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Self-Banished 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, The Self-Banished, in Cooper's Hill, and Other Poems (1645–1668), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waller-denham/the-self-banished.html, id L09051.
Form and metre
The Self-Banished is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 11% 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 ABAB lessA · layB · increaseA · awayB
- 2 ABAB everythingA · youB · bringA · anewB
- 3 ABAB sunA · gotB · shunA · shotB
- 4 ABAB assuageA · retireB · rageA · fireB
- 5 ABAB mustA · youB · mistrustA · tooB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| It is not that I love you less, | 8 | ········ |
| Than when before your feet I lay; | 8 | ········ |
| But to prevent the sad increase | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| Of hopeless love, I keep away. | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| In vain, alas! for everything | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Which I have known belong to you, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Your form does to my fancy bring, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And makes my old wounds bleed anew. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Who in the spring, from the new sun, | 8 | ········ |
| Already has a fever got, | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| Too late begins those shafts to shun, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Which Phoebus through his veins has shot; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Too late he would the pain assuage, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And to thick shadows does retire; | 8 | ···/··˘/ |
| About with him he bears the rage, | 8 | ········ |
| And in his tainted blood the fire. | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| But vow'd I have, and never must | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Your banish'd servant trouble you; | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| For if I break, you may mistrust | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The vow I made--to love you too. | 8 | ········ |
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.