Salmacis And Hermaphroditus. Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCCDDCCEEFFGGBAHHII JJKKLLCCMMJJMMKKMMMA MDMMCCEEMMDDAANNFFOO ABAAMMAADDMMDDPCQAEE OOMMCCCCJJCCDDMMDDDD MMAADDMMMMFFRRMMMMAB MMMMMMCCDDMMFFMMRRMS QAFFTTMMAAFFDMTTMRSM AAAAFFFFDDDDFUMY wanton lines doe treate of amorous loue | A |
Such as would bow the hearts of gods aboue | B |
Then Venus thou great Citherean Queene | C |
That hourely tript on the Idalian greene | C |
Thou laughing Erycina daygne to see | D |
The verses wholly consecrate to thee | D |
Temper them so within thy Paphian shrine | C |
That euery Louers eye may melt a line | C |
Commaund the god of Loue that little King | E |
To giue each verse a sleight touch with his wing | E |
That as I write one line may draw the tother | F |
And euery word skip nimbly o're another | F |
There was a louely boy the Nymphs had kept | G |
That on the Idane mountains oft had slept | G |
Begot and borne by powers that dwelt aboue | B |
By learned Mercury of the Queene of loue | A |
A face he had that shew'd his parents fame | H |
And from them both conioynd he drew his name | H |
So wondrous fayre he was that as they say | I |
Diana being hunting on a day | I |
Shee saw the boy vpon a greene banke lay him | J |
And there the virgin huntresse meant to slay him | J |
Because no Nymphes did now pursue the chase | K |
For all were strooke blind with the wanton's face | K |
But when that beauteous face Diana saw | L |
Her armes were nummed shee could not draw | L |
Yet she did striue to shoot but all in vaine | C |
Shee bent her bow and loos'd it streight againe | C |
Then she began to chide her wanton eye | M |
And fayne would shoot but durst not see him die | M |
She turnd and shot and did of purpose misse him | J |
Shee turnd againe and did of purpose kisse him | J |
Then the boy ran for some say had he stayd | M |
Diana had no longer bene a mayd | M |
Phoebus so doted on this rosiat face | K |
That he hath oft stole closely from his place | K |
When he did lie by fayre Leucothoes side | M |
To dally with him in the vales of Ide | M |
And euer since this louely boy did die | M |
Phoebus each day about the world doth flie | A |
And on the earth he seekes him all the day | M |
And euery night he seekes him in the sea | D |
His cheeke was sanguine and his lip as red | M |
As are the blushing leaues of the Rose spred | M |
And I haue heard that till this boy was borne | C |
Rose grew white vpon the virgin thorne | C |
Till one day walking to a pleasant spring | E |
To heare how cunningly the birds could sing | E |
Laying him downe vpon a flowry bed | M |
The Roses blush'd and turn'd themselues to red | M |
The Rose that blush'd not for his great offence | D |
The gods did punish and for impudence | D |
They gaue this doome that was agreed by all | A |
The smell of the white Rose should be but small | A |
His haire was bushie but it was not long | N |
The Nymphs had done his tresses mighty wrong | N |
For as it grew they puld away his haire | F |
And made abilliments of gold to weare | F |
His eyes were Cupids for vntill his birth | O |
Cupid had eyes and liu'd vpon the earth | O |
Till on a day when the great Queene of loue | A |
Was by her white doues drawn fro m heauen aboue | B |
Vnto the top of the Idalian hill | A |
To see how well the Nymphs their charge fulfill | A |
And whether they had done the goddesse right | M |
In nursing of her sweet Hermaphrodite | M |
VVhom when she saw although complete full | A |
Yet she complaynd his eyes were somewhat dull | A |
And therefore more the wanton boy to grace | D |
She puld the sparkling eyes from Cupids face | D |
Fayning a cause to take away his sight | M |
Because the Ape would sometimes shoot for spight | M |
But Venus set those eyes in such a place | D |
As grac'd those cleare eyes with a clearer face | D |
For his white hand each goddesse did him woo | P |
For it was whiter then the driuen snow | C |
His legge was straighter then the thigh of Ioue | Q |
And he farre fairer then the god of loue | A |
When first this wel shapt boy beauties chiefe king | E |
Had seene the labour of the fifteenth spring | E |
How curiously it paynted all the earth | O |
He 'gan to trauaile from his place of birth | O |
Leauing the stately hils where he was nurst | M |
And where the Nymphs had brought him vp at first | M |
He lou'd to trauaile to the coasts vnknowne | C |
To see the regions farre beyond his owne | C |
Seeking cleare watry springs to bathe him in | C |
For he did loue to wash his iuory skinne | C |
The louely Nymphes haue oft times seene him swimme | J |
And closely stole his clothes from off the brim | J |
Because the wanton wenches would so fayne | C |
See him come nak'd to ask his clothes againe | C |
He lou'd besides to see the Lycian grounds | D |
And know the wealthy Carians vtmost bounds | D |
Vsing to trauaile thus one day he found | M |
A cristall brook that tril'd along the ground | M |
A brooke that in reflection did surpasse | D |
The cleare reflection of the clearest glasse | D |
About the side there grew no foggy reedes | D |
Nor was the fount compast with barren weedes | D |
But liuing turfe grew all along the side | M |
And grasse that euer flourisht in his pride | M |
Within this brook a beauteous Nymph did dwell | A |
Who for her comely feature did excell | A |
So faire she vvas of such a pleasing grace | D |
So straight a body and so sweet a face | D |
So soft a belly such a lustie thigh | M |
So large a forehead such a cristall eye | M |
So soft and moyst a hand so smooth a brest | M |
So faire a cheeke so well in all the rest | M |
That Iupiter would reuell in her bowre | F |
Were he to spend againe his golden showre | F |
Her teeth were whiter then the mornings milke | R |
Her lip was softer then the softest silke | R |
Her haire as farre surpast the burnisht gold | M |
As siluer doth excell the basest mold | M |
Ioue courted her for her translucent eye | M |
And told her he would place her in the skye | M |
Promising her if she would be his loue | A |
He would ingraue her in the heauen aboue | B |
Telling this louely Nymph that if he would | M |
He could deceiue her in a showre of gold | M |
Or like a Swanne come to her naked bed | M |
And so deceiue her of her maiden head | M |
But yet because he thought that pleasure best | M |
Where each consenting ioynes each louing brest | M |
He would put off that all commaunding crowne | C |
Whose terrour strooke th'aspiring Giants downe | C |
That glittereing crown whose radia n t sight did tosse | D |
Great Pelion from the top of mighty Osse | D |
He would depose from his world swaying head | M |
To taste the amorous pleasures of her bed | M |
This added he besides the more to grace her | F |
Like a bright starre he would in heauens vault place her | F |
By this the proud lasciuious Nymph was mou'd | M |
Perceiuing by great Ioue shee was belou'd | M |
And hoping as a starre she should ere long | R |
Be sterne or gracious to the Sea mans song | R |
For mortals still are subiect to their eye | M |
And what it sees they striue to get as hie | S |
She was contented that almighty Ioue | Q |
Should haue the first and best fruits of her loue | A |
For women may be likened to the yeere | F |
Whose first fruits still do make the dayntiest cheere | F |
But yet Astr a first should plight her troth | T |
For the performance of Ioues sacred oth | T |
Iust times decline and all good dayes are dead | M |
When heauenly othes had need be warranted | M |
This heard great Iupiter and lik'd it well | A |
And hastily he seeks Astr as cell | A |
About the massie earth searching her towre | F |
But she had long since left this earthly bowre | F |
And flew to heauen aboue lothing to see | D |
The sinfull actions of humanitie | M |
Which when Ioue did perceiue he left the earth | T |
And flew vp to the place of his owne birth | T |
The burning heauenly throne where he did spy | M |
Astr as palace in the glittering skie | R |
This stately towre was builded vp on hie | S |
Farre from the reach of any mortall eye | M |
And from the palace side there did distill | A |
A little water through a little quill | A |
The dewe of iustice which did seldome fall | A |
And when it dropt the drops were very small | A |
Glad was great Ioue when he beheld her towre | F |
Meaning a while to rest him in her bowre | F |
And therefore sought to enter at her dore | F |
But there was such a busie rout before | F |
Some seruing men and some promooters bee | D |
That he could passe no foote without a fee | D |
But as he goes he reaches out his hands | D |
And payes each one in order as he stands | D |
And still as he was paying those before | F |
Some slipt againe betwixt him a | U |
Francis Beaumont
(1)
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