To My Lord of Leicester
Not that thy trees at Penshurst groan,Oppressed with their timely load,And seem to make their silent moan,That their great lord is now abroad:They to delight his taste, or eye,Would spend themselves in fruit, and die.
Not that thy harmless deer repine,And think themselves unjustly slainBy any other hand than thine,Whose arrows they would gladly stain;No, nor thy friends, which hold too dearThat peace with France which keeps thee there.
All these are less than that great causeWhich now exacts your presence here,Wherein there meet the divers lawsOf public and domestic care.For one bright nymph our youth contends,And on your prudent choice depends.
Not the bright shield of Thetis' son(For which such stern debate did rise,That the great Ajax TelamonRefused to live without the prize),Those Achive peers did more engageThan she the gallants of our age.
That beam of beauty, which begunTo warm us so when thou wert here,Now scorches like the raging sun,When Sirius does first appear.Oh, fix this flame! and let despairRedeem the rest from endless care.
'Lord of Leicester': Saccharissa's father. He was employed at thistime in foreign service.'Thetis' son': Achilles.
Words in this poem
- repine v. i.
- To fail; to wane. [Pref. re- + pine to languish.]
- gladly adv.
- Preferably; by choice. [From Glad, a.]
- divers a.
- Different in kind or species; diverse. [F. divers, L. diversus turned in different directions, different, p. p. of divertere. See Divert, and cf. Diverse.]
- sirius n.
- The Dog Star. See Dog Star.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To My Lord of Leicester 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 My Lord of Leicester, in Cooper's Hill, and Other Poems (1645–1668), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waller-denham/to-my-lord-of-leicester.html, id L09079.
Form and metre
To My Lord of Leicester is 33 lines in 6 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 30% 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 ABABCC groanA · loadB · moanA · abroadB · eyeC · dieC
- 2 ABABCC repineA · slainB · thineA · stainB · dearC · thereC
- 3 ABABCC causeA · hereB · lawsA · careB · contendsC · dependsC
- 4 ABABCC sonA · riseB · telamonA · prizeB · engageC · ageC
- 5 ABABCC begunA · hereB · sunA · appearB · despairC · careC
- 6 AA- thisA · serviceA · achilles
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Not that thy trees at Penshurst groan, | 8 | ········ |
| Oppressed with their timely load, | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| And seem to make their silent moan, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That their great lord is now abroad: | 8 | ······˘/ |
| They to delight his taste, or eye, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Would spend themselves in fruit, and die. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Not that thy harmless deer repine, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| And think themselves unjustly slain | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| By any other hand than thine, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Whose arrows they would gladly stain; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| No, nor thy friends, which hold too dear | 8 | ········ |
| That peace with France which keeps thee there. | 8 | ········ |
| All these are less than that great cause | 8 | ········ |
| Which now exacts your presence here, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Wherein there meet the divers laws | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of public and domestic care. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| For one bright nymph our youth contends, | 8 | ····/·˘/ |
| And on your prudent choice depends. | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Not the bright shield of Thetis' son | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| (For which such stern debate did rise, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| That the great Ajax Telamon | 8 | ···/·/˘˘ |
| Refused to live without the prize), | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Those Achive peers did more engage | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Than she the gallants of our age. | 8 | ···/˘·/· |
| That beam of beauty, which begun | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| To warm us so when thou wert here, | 8 | ········ |
| Now scorches like the raging sun, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| When Sirius does first appear. | 8 | ·/˘˘··˘/ |
| Oh, fix this flame! and let despair | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Redeem the rest from endless care. | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| 'Lord of Leicester': Saccharissa's father. He was employed at this | 16 | ··/˘····/˘··˘/·· |
| time in foreign service. | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| 'Thetis' son': Achilles. | 6 | /˘·˘/˘ |
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 1 'Thetis' son': Achilles.
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