To Chloris
Chloris! what's eminent, we knowMust for some cause be valued so;Things without use, though they be good,Are not by us so understood.The early rose, made to displayHer blushes to the youthful May,Doth yield her sweets, since he is fair,And courts her with a gentle air.Our stars do show their excellenceNot by their light, but influence;When brighter comets, since still knownFatal to all, are liked by none.So your admirèd beauty stillIs, by effects, made good or ill.
About this text
To Chloris 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, To Chloris, in Poetical Works (1645–1668), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waller-denham/to-chloris-2.html, id L09101.
Form and metre
To Chloris is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 71% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 36% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AABBCCDD----EE knowA · soA · goodB · understoodB · displayC · mayC · fairD · airD · excellence · influence · known · none · stillE · illE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Chloris! what's eminent, we know | 8 | /˘·/˘˘·· |
| Must for some cause be valued so; | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| Things without use, though they be good, | 8 | ········ |
| Are not by us so understood. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The early rose, made to display | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Her blushes to the youthful May, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Doth yield her sweets, since he is fair, | 8 | ········ |
| And courts her with a gentle air. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Our stars do show their excellence | 9 | /˘····/˘˘ |
| Not by their light, but influence; | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| When brighter comets, since still known | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Fatal to all, are liked by none. | 9 | /˘····˘·· |
| So your admirèd beauty still | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Is, by effects, made good or ill. | 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.