To My Young Lady Lucy Sidney
Why came I so untimely forthInto a world which, wanting thee,Could entertain us with no worthOr shadow of felicity?That time should me so far removeFrom that which I was born to love!
Yet, fairest blossom! do not slightThat age which you may know so soon;The rosy morn resigns her lightAnd milder glory to the noon;And then what wonders shall you do,Whose dawning beauty warms us so?
Hope waits upon the flow'ry prime;And summer, though it be less gay,Yet is not look'd on as a timeOf declination or decay;For with a full hand that does bringAll that was promised by the spring.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To My Young Lady Lucy Sidney 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 Young Lady Lucy Sidney, in Cooper's Hill, and Other Poems (1645–1668), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waller-denham/to-my-young-lady-lucy-sidney.html, id L09081.
Form and metre
To My Young Lady Lucy Sidney is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 39% 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 ----AA forth · thee · worth · felicity · removeA · loveA
- 2 ABAB-- slightA · soonB · lightA · noonB · do · so
- 3 ABABCC primeA · gayB · timeA · decayB · bringC · springC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Why came I so untimely forth | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Into a world which, wanting thee, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Could entertain us with no worth | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Or shadow of felicity? | 8 | ·/··˘/˘˘ |
| That time should me so far remove | 8 | ······˘/ |
| From that which I was born to love! | 8 | ········ |
| Yet, fairest blossom! do not slight | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| That age which you may know so soon; | 8 | ········ |
| The rosy morn resigns her light | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| And milder glory to the noon; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And then what wonders shall you do, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Whose dawning beauty warms us so? | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Hope waits upon the flow'ry prime; | 10 | ·········· |
| And summer, though it be less gay, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Yet is not look'd on as a time | 8 | ········ |
| Of declination or decay; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| For with a full hand that does bring | 8 | ········ |
| All that was promised by the spring. | 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.