To the Duchess of Orleans, When She Was Taking Leave of the Court at Dover
That sun of beauty did among us rise;England first saw the light of your fair eyes;In English, too, your early wit was shown;Favour that language, which was then your own,When, though a child, through guards you made your way;What fleet or army could an angel stay?Thrice happy Britain! if she could retainWhom she first bred within her ambient main.Our late burnt London, in apparel new,Shook off her ashes to have treated you;But we must see our glory snatch'd away,And with warm tears increase the guilty sea;No wind can favour us; howe'er it blows,We must be wreck'd, and our dear treasure lose!Sighs will not let us half our sorrows tell,--Fair, lovely, great, and best of nymphs, farewell!
'Court at Dover': the Duchess of Orleans, the youngest daughter ofCharles I., came to England on the 14th May 1670, on a politicalmission.
Words in this poem
- favour n.
- Kind regard; propitious aspect; countenance; friendly disposition; kindness; good will. [Written also favour.]
- ambient a.
- Encompassing on all sides; circumfused; investing. [L. ambiens, p. pr. of ambire to go around; amb- + ire to go.]
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- duchess n.
- The wife or widow of a duke; also, a lady who has the sovereignty of a duchy in her own right. [F. duchesse, fr. duc duke.]
- orleans n.
- A cloth made of worsted and cotton, -- used for wearing apparel. [So called from the city of Orléans, in France.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To the Duchess of Orleans, When She Was Taking Leave of the Court at Dover 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 the Duchess of Orleans, When She Was Taking Leave of the Court at Dover, in Cooper's Hill, and Other Poems (1645–1668), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waller-denham/to-the-duchess-of-orleans-when-she-was-taking-leave-of-the-court-at-dover.html, id L26330.
Form and metre
To the Duchess of Orleans, When She Was Taking Leave of the Court at Dover is 19 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 63% of the lines. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 71%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic 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 AABBCCDDEEC---FF riseA · eyesA · shownB · ownB · wayC · stayC · retainD · mainD · newE · youE · awayC · sea · blows · lose · tellF · farewellF
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| That sun of beauty did among us rise; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| England first saw the light of your fair eyes; | 10 | /˘········ |
| In English, too, your early wit was shown; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Favour that language, which was then your own, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| When, though a child, through guards you made your way; | 10 | ·········· |
| What fleet or army could an angel stay? | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Thrice happy Britain! if she could retain | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| Whom she first bred within her ambient main. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Our late burnt London, in apparel new, | 10 | /··/˘·˘/˘· |
| Shook off her ashes to have treated you; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| But we must see our glory snatch'd away, | 10 | ····//˘·˘/ |
| And with warm tears increase the guilty sea; | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| No wind can favour us; howe'er it blows, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| We must be wreck'd, and our dear treasure lose! | 10 | ·····/·/˘· |
| Sighs will not let us half our sorrows tell,-- | 10 | ······//˘· |
| Fair, lovely, great, and best of nymphs, farewell! | 10 | ·/˘······/ |
| 'Court at Dover': the Duchess of Orleans, the youngest daughter of | 16 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘·/˘/˘· |
| Charles I., came to England on the 14th May 1670, on a political | 14 | ····/˘·····˘/˘ |
| mission. | 2 | /˘ |
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.