To My Worthy Friend, Mr Wase, the Translator of Gratius

Edmund Waller (1606–1687) · 1645–1668

iambic tetrameter · octosyllabic couplets · 33 lines · from Poetical Works

Thus, by the music, we may knowWhen noble wits a-hunting go,Through groves that on Parnassus grow.

The Muses all the chase adorn;My friend on Pegasus is borne;And young Apollo winds the horn.

Having old Gratius in the wind,No pack of critics e'er could find,Or he know more of his own mind.

Here huntsmen with delight may readHow to choose dogs for scent or speed,And how to change or mend the breed;

What arms to use, or nets to frame,Wild beasts to combat or to tame;With all the myst'ries of that game.

But, worthy friend! the face of warIn ancient times doth differ farFrom what our fiery battles are.

Nor is it like, since powder known,That man, so cruel to his own,Should spare the race of beasts alone.

No quarter now, but with the gunMen wait in trees from sun to sun,And all is in a moment done.

And therefore we expect your nextShould be no comment, but a textTo tell how modern beasts are vex'd.

Thus would I further yet engageYour gentle Muse to court the ageWith somewhat of your proper rage;

Since none does more to Phoebus owe,Or in more languages can showThose arts which you so early know.

Words in this poem

parnassus n.: A mountain in Greece, sacred to Apollo and the Muses, and famous for a temple of Apollo and for the Castalian spring. Grass of Parnassus. (Bot.) See under Grass, and Parnassia.
expect v. t.: To wait for; to await. [L. expectatum, to look out for, await, expect; ex + out spectare to look at. See Spectacle.]
phoebus n.: Apollo; the sun god.

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

To My Worthy Friend, Mr Wase, the Translator of Gratius 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 Worthy Friend, Mr Wase, the Translator of Gratius, in Poetical Works (1645–1668), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waller-denham/to-my-worthy-friend-mr-wase-the-translator-of-gratius.html, id L09089.

Form and metre

To My Worthy Friend, Mr Wase, the Translator of Gratius is 33 lines in 11 stanzas of 3 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 30% 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 AAA know^A · go^A · grow^A
2 AAA adorn^A · borne^A · horn^A
3 AAA wind^A · find^A · mind^A
4 AAA read^A · speed^A · breed^A
5 AAA frame^A · tame^A · game^A
6 -AA war · far^A · are^A
7 AAA known^A · own^A · alone^A
8 AAA gun^A · sun^A · done^A
9 AAA next^A · text^A · vex'd^A
10 AAA engage^A · age^A · rage^A
11 AAA owe^A · show^A · know^A

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
Thus, by the music, we may know	8	···/˘···
When noble wits a-hunting go,	8	·/˘··/˘·
Through groves that on Parnassus grow.	8	·····/˘·
The Muses all the chase adorn;	8	·/˘···˘/
My friend on Pegasus is borne;	8	···/˘˘··
And young Apollo winds the horn.	8	··˘/˘···
Having old Gratius in the wind,	8	/˘······
No pack of critics e'er could find,	8	···/˘···
Or he know more of his own mind.	8	········
Here huntsmen with delight may read	8	····˘/··
How to choose dogs for scent or speed,	8	········
And how to change or mend the breed;	8	········
What arms to use, or nets to frame,	8	········
Wild beasts to combat or to tame;	8	···/˘···
With all the myst'ries of that game.	7	·······
But, worthy friend! the face of war	8	·/˘·····
In ancient times doth differ far	8	·/˘··/˘·
From what our fiery battles are.	10	··/˘/˘˘/˘·
Nor is it like, since powder known,	8	·····/˘·
That man, so cruel to his own,	8	···/˘···
Should spare the race of beasts alone.	8	······˘/
No quarter now, but with the gun	8	·/˘·····
Men wait in trees from sun to sun,	8	········
And all is in a moment done.	8	·····/˘·
And therefore we expect your next	8	····˘/··
Should be no comment, but a text	8	···/˘···
To tell how modern beasts are vex'd.	8	···/˘···
Thus would I further yet engage	8	···/˘·˘/
Your gentle Muse to court the age	8	·/˘·····
With somewhat of your proper rage;	8	·//··/˘·
Since none does more to Phoebus owe,	8	·····/˘·
Or in more languages can show	8	···/˘˘··
Those arts which you so early know.	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.

More by Edmund Waller

Poetical Works