To Phyllis
Phyllis! why should we delayPleasures shorter than the day?Could we (which we never can!)Stretch our lives beyond their span,Beauty like a shadow flies,And our youth before us dies.Or would youth and beauty stay,Love hath wings, and will away.Love hath swifter wings than Time,Change in love to heaven does climb.Gods, that never change their state,Vary oft their love and hate.
Phyllis! to this truth we oweAll the love betwixt us two.Let not you and I inquireWhat has been our past desire;On what shepherds you have smiled,Or what nymphs I have beguiled;Leave it to the planets too,What we shall hereafter do;For the joys we now may prove,Take advice of present love.
Words in this poem
- swifter v. t.
- To tighten, as slack standing rigging, by bringing the opposite shrouds nearer.
- betwixt prep.
- In the space which separates; between. [OE. betwix, bitwix, rarely bitwixt, AS. betweox, betweohs, betweoh, betwih; pref. be- by + a form fr. AS. twa two. See Between.]
- 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,]
- hereafter adv.
- In time to come; in some future time or state. [AS. hræfter.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Phyllis 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 Phyllis, in Cooper's Hill, and Other Poems (1645–1668), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waller-denham/to-phyllis-2.html, id L09088.
Form and metre
To Phyllis is 22 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.0 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 16% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 AABBCCAADDEE delayA · dayA · canB · spanB · fliesC · diesC · stayA · awayA · timeD · climbD · stateE · hateE
- 2 -A--BBAACC owe · twoA · inquire · desire · smiledB · beguiledB · tooA · doA · proveC · loveC
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Phyllis! why should we delay | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| Pleasures shorter than the day? | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Could we (which we never can!) | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Stretch our lives beyond their span, | 7 | ·/····· |
| Beauty like a shadow flies, | 7 | /˘··/·· |
| And our youth before us dies. | 7 | ·/····· |
| Or would youth and beauty stay, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Love hath wings, and will away. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Love hath swifter wings than Time, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Change in love to heaven does climb. | 7 | ····/·· |
| Gods, that never change their state, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Vary oft their love and hate. | 7 | /˘····· |
| Phyllis! to this truth we owe | 7 | /˘····· |
| All the love betwixt us two. | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Let not you and I inquire | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| What has been our past desire; | 8 | ···/·˘/˘ |
| On what shepherds you have smiled, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Or what nymphs I have beguiled; | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Leave it to the planets too, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| What we shall hereafter do; | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| For the joys we now may prove, | 7 | ······· |
| Take advice of present love. | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
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.