A Song To A Fair Young Lady Going Out Of Town In The Spring

John Dryden 1631 (Aldwincle) – 1631 (London)



1.
Ask not the cause why sullen spring
So long delays her flowers to bear;
Why warbling birds forget to sing,
And winter storms invert the year;
Chloris is gone, and Fate provides
To make it spring where she resides.

2.
Chloris is gone, the cruel fair;
She cast not back a pitying eye;
But left her lover in despair,
To sigh, to languish, and to die:
Ah, how can those fair eyes endure
To give the wounds they will not cure!

3.
Great god of love, why hast thou made
A face that can all hearts command,
That all religions can invade,
And change the laws of every land?
Where thou hadst plac'd such pow'r before,
Thou shouldst have made her mercy more.

4.
When Chloris to the temple comes,
Adoring crowds before her fall;
She can restore the dead from tombs,
And ev'ry life but mine recall.
I only am by love designed
To be the victim for mankind.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

49 sec read
136

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCBXDD ACECEFF AGHGHII AXJXJKK
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 827
Words 163
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 7, 7, 7, 7

John Dryden

John Dryden was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who was made Poet Laureate in 1668. more…

All John Dryden poems | John Dryden Books

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