A Rill

William Browne 1591 (Tavistock, Devon) – 1645



So when the pretty rill a place espies,
Where with the pebbles she would wantonize,
And that her upper stream so much doth wrong her
To drive her thence, and let her play no longer;
If she with too loud mutt'ring ran away,
As being much incens'd to leave her play,
A western, mild and pretty whispering gale
Came dallying with the leaves along the dale,
And seem'd as with the water it did chide,
Because it ran so long unpacified:
Yea, and methought it bade her leave that coil,
Or he would choke her up with leaves and soil:
Whereat the riv'let in my mind did weep,
And hurl'd her head into a silent deep.
  
From Britannia's Pastorals.
  
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Submitted on August 03, 2020

Modified on March 05, 2023

37 sec read
17

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABBCCDDEEFFGG A
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 626
Words 120
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 14, 1

William Browne

William Browne was an English pastoral poet, born at Tavistock, Devon, and educated at Exeter College, Oxford; subsequently he entered the Inner Temple. His chief works were the long poem Britannia's Pastorals, and a contribution to The Shepheard's Pipe. Britannia's Pastorals was never finished: in his lifetime Books I & II were published successively in 1613 and 1616. The manuscript of Book III was not published until 1852. The poem is concerned with the loves and woes of Celia, Marina, etc. To him is due the epitaph for the dowager Countess of Pembroke. more…

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