To the Duchess, When He Presented This Book to Her Royal Highness
Madam! I here present you with the rage,And with the beauties of a former age;Wishing you may with as great pleasure viewThis, as we take in gazing upon you.Thus we writ then: your brighter eyes inspireA nobler flame, and raise our genius higher.While we your wit and early knowledge fear,To our productions we become severe;Your matchless beauty gives our fancy wing,Your judgment makes us careful how we sing.Lines not composed, as heretofore, in haste,Polish'd like marble, shall like marble last,And make you through as many ages shine,As Tasso has the heroes of your line.
Though other names our wary writers use,You are the subject of the British Muse;Dilating mischief to yourself unknown,Men write, and die of wounds they dare not own.So the bright sun burns all our grass away,While it means nothing but to give us day.
Words in this poem
- 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 the Duchess, When He Presented This Book to Her Royal Highness 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, When He Presented This Book to Her Royal Highness, 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-when-he-presented-this-book-to-her-royal-high.html, id L09103.
Form and metre
To the Duchess, When He Presented This Book to Her Royal Highness is 20 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 10% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic 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 AABB--CCDD--EE rageA · ageA · viewB · youB · inspire · higher · fearC · severeC · wingD · singD · haste · last · shineE · lineE
- 2 AABBCC useA · museA · unknownB · ownB · awayC · dayC
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Madam! I here present you with the rage, | 10 | /˘··/˘···· |
| And with the beauties of a former age; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Wishing you may with as great pleasure view | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| This, as we take in gazing upon you. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Thus we writ then: your brighter eyes inspire | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| A nobler flame, and raise our genius higher. | 11 | ·/˘···//˘/˘ |
| While we your wit and early knowledge fear, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| To our productions we become severe; | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘/ |
| Your matchless beauty gives our fancy wing, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·//˘· |
| Your judgment makes us careful how we sing. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Lines not composed, as heretofore, in haste, | 10 | ··˘/··˘/·· |
| Polish'd like marble, shall like marble last, | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| And make you through as many ages shine, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| As Tasso has the heroes of your line. | 10 | ·/···/˘··· |
| Though other names our wary writers use, | 10 | ·/˘·//˘/˘· |
| You are the subject of the British Muse; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Dilating mischief to yourself unknown, | 10 | ˘/˘/˘·˘/˘/ |
| Men write, and die of wounds they dare not own. | 10 | ·········· |
| So the bright sun burns all our grass away, | 10 | ······/·˘/ |
| While it means nothing but to give us day. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
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.