Virg
Concordes animæ--dum nocte prementur;Heu! quantum inter se bellum, si lumina vitæAttigerint, quantas acies stragemque ciebunt!Qui Juvenes! quantas ostentant, aspice, vires.Ne, pueri! ne tanta animis assuescite bella.Tuque prior, tu parce, genus qui ducis Olympo,Sidereo flagrans clypeo, et coelestibus armis,Projice tela manu, sanguis meus!Nec te ullæ facies, non terruit ipse TyphoeusArduus, arma tenens; non te Messapus et Ufens,Contemtorque Deûm Mezentius.
Words in this poem
- quantum n.
- Quantity; amount. [L., neuter of quantus how great, how much. See Quantity,]
- tuque n.
- A kind of warm cap winter wear, made from a knit bag with closed tapered ends by pushing one end within the other, thus making a conical cap of double thickness.
- manu n.
- One of a series of progenitors of human beings, and authors of human wisdom. [Skr.]
- facies n.
- The anterior part of the head; the face. [L., from, face. See Face.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Virg is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Edward Young, Volume 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #18827; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edward Young, Virg, in The Poetical Works, Volume II (1742–1745), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18827, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/young-night-thoughts/virg-3.html, id L09467.
Form and metre
Virg is 11 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter. 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.4 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 18% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter, other poems in blank verse.
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Concordes animæ--dum nocte prementur; | 9 | /········ |
| Heu! quantum inter se bellum, si lumina vitæ | 13 | ·/˘˘/·//˘·/˘· |
| Attigerint, quantas acies stragemque ciebunt! | 11 | ··········· |
| Qui Juvenes! quantas ostentant, aspice, vires. | 11 | ··········· |
| Ne, pueri! ne tanta animis assuescite bella. | 14 | ············/˘ |
| Tuque prior, tu parce, genus qui ducis Olympo, | 12 | ·/··/˘······ |
| Sidereo flagrans clypeo, et coelestibus armis, | 14 | ·············· |
| Projice tela manu, sanguis meus! | 9 | ····/···· |
| Nec te ullæ facies, non terruit ipse Typhoeus | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| Arduus, arma tenens; non te Messapus et Ufens, | 14 | ·············· |
| Contemtorque Deûm Mezentius. | 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.