To Mrs Braughton, Servant to Saccharissa
Fair fellow-servant! may your gentle earProve more propitious to my slighted careThan the bright dame's we serve: for her relief(Vex'd with the long expressions of my grief)Receive these plaints; nor will her high disdainForbid my humble Muse to court her train.
So, in those nations which the sun adore,Some modest Persian, or some weak-eyed Moor,No higher dares advance his dazzled sight,Than to some gilded cloud, which near the lightOf their ascending god adorns the east,And, gracèd with his beams, outshines the rest.
Thy skilful hand contributes to our woe,And whets those arrows which confound us so.A thousand Cupids in those curls do sit(Those curious nets!) thy slender fingers knit.The Graces put not more exactly onTh' attire of Venus, when the ball she won,Than Saccharissa by thy care is dress'd,When all our youth prefers her to the rest.
You the soft season know when best her mindMay be to pity, or to love, inclined:In some well-chosen hour supply his fear,Whose hopeless love durst never tempt the earOf that stern goddess. You, her priest, declareWhat offerings may propitiate the fair;Rich orient pearl, bright stones that ne'er decay,Or polish'd lines, which longer last than they;For if I thought she took delight in those,To where the cheerful morn does first disclose,(The shady night removing with her beams),Wing'd with bold love, I'd fly to fetch such gems.But since her eyes, her teeth, her lip excelsAll that is found in mines or fishes' shells,Her nobler part as far exceeding these,None but immortal gifts her mind should please.The shining jewels Greece and Troy bestow'dOn Sparta's queen, her lovely neck did load,And snowy wrists; but when the town was burn'd,Those fading glories were to ashes turn'd;Her beauty, too, had perished, and her fame,Had not the Muse redeemed them from the flame.'Sparta's queen': Helen.
Words in this poem
- adore v. t.
- To worship with profound reverence; to pay divine honors to; to honor as deity or as divine. [OE. aouren, anouren, adoren, OF. aorer, adorer, F. adorer, fr. L. adorare; ad + orare to speak, pray, os, oris, mouth. In OE. confused with honor, the French pr]
- curious a.
- Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [OF. curios, curius, F. curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See Cure.]
- propitiate v. t.
- To appease to render favorable; to make propitious; to conciliate. [L. propitiatus, p. p. of propitiare to propitiate, fr. propitius favorable. See Propitious.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- snowy a.
- White like snow.
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Mrs Braughton, Servant to Saccharissa 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 Mrs Braughton, Servant to Saccharissa, in Cooper's Hill, and Other Poems (1645–1668), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waller-denham/to-mrs-braughton-servant-to-saccharissa.html, id L09080.
Form and metre
To Mrs Braughton, Servant to Saccharissa is 43 lines in 4 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 88% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 29% 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 AABBCC earA · careA · reliefB · griefB · disdainC · trainC
- 2 --AA-- adore · moor · sightA · lightA · east · rest
- 3 AABBCCDD woeA · soA · sitB · knitB · onC · wonC · dress'dD · restD
- 4 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKK- mindA · inclinedA · fearB · earB · declareC · fairC · decayD · theyD · thoseE · discloseE · beamsF · gemsF · excelsG · shellsG · theseH · pleaseH · bestow'dI · loadI · burn'dJ · turn'dJ · fameK · flameK · helen
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Fair fellow-servant! may your gentle ear | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Prove more propitious to my slighted care | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Than the bright dame's we serve: for her relief | 10 | ········˘/ |
| (Vex'd with the long expressions of my grief) | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Receive these plaints; nor will her high disdain | 10 | ˘/······˘/ |
| Forbid my humble Muse to court her train. | 10 | ˘/·/˘····· |
| So, in those nations which the sun adore, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Some modest Persian, or some weak-eyed Moor, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| No higher dares advance his dazzled sight, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| Than to some gilded cloud, which near the light | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Of their ascending god adorns the east, | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/·· |
| And, gracèd with his beams, outshines the rest. | 9 | ·····/··· |
| Thy skilful hand contributes to our woe, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘·/· |
| And whets those arrows which confound us so. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| A thousand Cupids in those curls do sit | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| (Those curious nets!) thy slender fingers knit. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| The Graces put not more exactly on | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Th' attire of Venus, when the ball she won, | 10 | ˘/·/˘····· |
| Than Saccharissa by thy care is dress'd, | 10 | ·········· |
| When all our youth prefers her to the rest. | 10 | ··/·˘/···· |
| You the soft season know when best her mind | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| May be to pity, or to love, inclined: | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| In some well-chosen hour supply his fear, | 10 | ···/˘/˘/·· |
| Whose hopeless love durst never tempt the ear | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Of that stern goddess. You, her priest, declare | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| What offerings may propitiate the fair; | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘·· |
| Rich orient pearl, bright stones that ne'er decay, | 11 | ·/˘······˘/ |
| Or polish'd lines, which longer last than they; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| For if I thought she took delight in those, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| To where the cheerful morn does first disclose, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| (The shady night removing with her beams), | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Wing'd with bold love, I'd fly to fetch such gems. | 10 | ·········· |
| But since her eyes, her teeth, her lip excels | 10 | ········˘/ |
| All that is found in mines or fishes' shells, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Her nobler part as far exceeding these, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| None but immortal gifts her mind should please. | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| The shining jewels Greece and Troy bestow'd | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| On Sparta's queen, her lovely neck did load, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And snowy wrists; but when the town was burn'd, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Those fading glories were to ashes turn'd; | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Her beauty, too, had perished, and her fame, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Had not the Muse redeemed them from the flame. | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| 'Sparta's queen': Helen. | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
Notes from the edition 1
George Gilfillan's notes to the Poetical Works of Edmund Waller and Sir John Denham (1857; Project Gutenberg #12322).
- Stanza 4, line 18 'Sparta's queen': Helen.
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