To — (With a Volume of Epigrams)
Unto the Lady of The NookFly, tiny book.There thou hast lovers--even thou!Fly thither now.
Seven years hast thou for honour yearned,And scant praise earned;But ah! to win, at last, such friends,Is full amends.
Words in this poem
- nook n.
- A narrow place formed by an angle in bodies or between bodies; a corner; a recess; a secluded retreat. [OE. nok; cf. Gael. & Ir. niuc.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To — (With a Volume of Epigrams) is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of William Watson, Project Gutenberg ebook #13179; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Watson, To — (With a Volume of Epigrams), in The Poems of William Watson (1892–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #13179, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/watson-poems/to-with-a-volume-of-epigrams.html, id L11257.
Form and metre
To — (With a Volume of Epigrams) is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. The metre is iambic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic dimeter.
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 nookA · bookA · thouB · nowB
- 2 AABB yearnedA · earnedA · friendsB · amendsB
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 dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Unto the Lady of The Nook | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Fly, tiny book. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| There thou hast lovers--even thou! | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Fly thither now. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Seven years hast thou for honour yearned, | 9 | /˘····/˘· |
| And scant praise earned; | 4 | ···· |
| But ah! to win, at last, such friends, | 8 | ········ |
| Is full amends. | 4 | ··˘/ |
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.