Syrinx

John Lyly 1553 (Canterbury) – 1606 (London)



Pan's Syrinx was a girl indeed,
Though now she's turned into a reed;
From that dear reed Pan's pipe does come,
A pipe that strikes Apollo dumb;
Nor flute, nor lute, nor gittern can
So chant it as the pipe of Pan:
Cross-gartered swains and dairy girls,
With faces smug and round as pearls,
When Pan's shrill pipe begins to play,
With dancing wear out night and day;
The bagpipe's drone his hum lays by,
When Pan sounds up his minstrelsy;
His minstrelsy! O base! this quill,
Which at my mouth with wind I fill,
Puts me in mind, though her I miss,
That still my Syrinx' lips I kiss.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 25, 2023

35 sec read
123

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABBCCDDEEFDGGHH
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 572
Words 112
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16

John Lyly

John Lyly was an English writer, poet, dramatist, playwright, and politician, best known for his books Euphues, The Anatomy of Wit and Euphues and His England. more…

All John Lyly poems | John Lyly Books

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