Å Iambic Breakdown

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When wert thou born, Desire?  In pomp and prime of May.
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By whom, sweet boy, wert thou begot?  By good conceit, men say.
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Tell me, who was thy nurse?  Fresh youth, in sugared joy.

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What was thy meat and dainty food?  Sad sighs, with great annoy.

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What hadst thou then to drink?  Unfeigned lovers' tears.

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What cradle were thou rocked in?  In hope devoid of fears.

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What brought thee then asleep?  Sweet speech, which liked me best.

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And where is now thy dwelling-place?  In gentle hearts I rest.

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Doth company displease?  It doth, in many a one.

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Where would Desire then choose to be?  He likes to muse alone.

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What feedeth most thy sight?  To gaze on favour still.

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Who findst thou most to be your foe?  Disdain of my good will.
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Will ever age or death Bring you into decay?
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No, no!  Desire both lives and dies a thousand times a day.

Edward de Vere's poem  is quite unusual as it is written in rhyming couplets with alternating lines of iambic hexameters and iambic heptameters.  (Some versions have been printed that show the poem written in four line stanzas of two trimeters followed by a tetrameter and another trimeter.) The alternating 12 and 14 syllables pattern is known as Poulter’s measure. This term came from poultry dealers selling a dozen eggs at a time but often including more that 12 at a time.  The meter is quite rigid with a possible exception at the start of the third line – “Tell me” is a spondee with equal emphasis on both words.  This is also the case in the final line – “No no!”.  The poem moves along at a brisk pace as it takes the form of questions and answers. 

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Last Updated April 10, 2005