Song I
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Song I
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Song I Skip to next line
Metrical foot type: anapaestic (--+)
Metrical foot number: tetrameter (4 feet) (catalectic) (hypercatalectic)
Rhyme scheme: aabb
Rhyme (stanza position): pair (aabb)
Syllable pattern: 12.12.12.12
Stanza: quatrain (4 lines)
Notation symbols: | (foot boundary), || (caesura), / (metrical line boundary), + (metrically prominent), - (metrically non-prominent)
Metre: -+|--+|--+|--+|-/ | Syllables: 12
Metre: -+|--+|--+|--+|-/ | Syllables: 12
Metre: -+|--+|--+|--+|-/ | Syllables: 12
Metre: -+|--+|--+|--+|-/ | Syllables: 12
Metre: -+|--+|--+|--+|-/ | Syllables: 12
Metre: -+|--+|--+|--+|-/ | Syllables: 12
Metre: -+|--+|--+|--+|-/ | Syllables: 12
Metre: -+|--+|--+|--+|-/ | Syllables: 12
Expanding the poem lines () shows notes and queries taken from various critical editions of Gray's works, as well as those contributed by users of the Archive. There are 1 textual and 0 explanatory notes/queries.
Song I 1 Textual Skip to next line
Title/Paratext] "These verses were first printed [...]" J. Bradshaw, 1891.
"These verses were first printed by Warton in his edition of Pope's
"Works," 1797, as a footnote to Pope's "Imitations of English
Poets," with this note:—"In the following love-verses is a
strain of sensibility which the reader will be pleased, I suppose, to see,
being now first published from a manuscript of Mr. Gray." They next
appeared in a letter signed "C. L. T. Etonenis," in the
"Gentleman's Magazine" for Aug. 1799, described as a "literary
curiosity, being the only specimen of Gray's excellence in amatory
composition."
The original MS. was presented by the Countess de Viry (Miss
Speed) with the ensuing "Song," to the Rev. Mr. Leman when he
visited her in 1780, and by him they were given to Warton.
It is probable that like the "Song," and the
"Rondeau," they were written at the request of this lady, of whom
Gray says in the "Long Story,"—"Alas who would not wish
to please her."
The first edition of Gray's "Poems" in which these
verses appeared was Stephen Jones' (1799), who gave them the title of
"The Enquiry," observing, "the following amatory lines having
been found among the MSS. of Gray, but bearing no title, I have ventured for
the sake of uniformity in this volume to prefix the above"; and Mitford
(ed. 1814) gave them the title of "Amatory Lines," by which they have been known ever since."
Works cited
- The Poetical Works of Thomas Gray: English and Latin. Edited with an introduction, life, notes and a bibliography by John Bradshaw. The Aldine edition of the British poets series. London: George Bell and sons, 1891.
Spelling has been modernized throughout, except in case of conscious archaisms. Contractions, italics and initial capitalization have been largely eliminated, except where of real import. Obvious errors have been silently corrected, punctuation has been supplied. The editor would like to express his gratitude to the library staff of the Göttingen State and University Library (SUB Göttingen) for their invaluable assistance.