Samuel Daniel (1562-1619)
Delia XXXVII
When men shall find thy flower, thy glory pass,
And thou, with careful brow sitting alone,
Receivèd hast this message from thy glass,
That tells thee truth, and says that all is gone,
Fresh shalt thou see in me the wounds thou madest,
Though spent thy flame, in me the heat remaining,
I that have loved thee thus before thou fadest,
My faith shall wax, when thou art in thy waning.
The world shall find this miracle in me,
That fire can burn when all the matter’s spent;
Then what my faith hath been thyself shall see,
And that thou wast unkind thou mayst repent.
Thou mayst repent that thou hast scorned my tears,
When Winter snows upon thy golden hairs.
Questions for Discussion
1. The speaker and the person addressed in the poem are probably
A) an old man speaking to an old woman
B) an old woman speaking to another old woman
C) a young man speaking to an old woman
D) a young man speaking to a young woman
E) a young man speaking to himself
2. Setting aside considerations of rhythm and rhyme, a modern writer would probably replace the verb form “pass” in line 1 with
A) passing
B) is passing
C) to pass
D) will have passed
E) to have passed
The word “glass” in line 3 means
A) tumbler
B) mirror
C) crystal ball
D) decanter
E) window
4. The “miracle” referred to in line 9 is
A) his continuing love
B) his suffering
C) her beauty
D) her remaining beautiful in old age
E) her returning his love
5. In line 10, “all the matter’s spent” can be best rephrased as
A) all cares are over
B) all my reasons for living have vanished
C) all the fuel is gone
D) all difficulties have been ended
E) the subject has been closed completely
6. In line 14, “winter” is a symbol of
A) love rejected
B) isolation
C) old age
D) indifference
E) death
7. Which of the following are arguments of the poem?
I. When you are old, you will be sorry you ignored my love.
II. Poetry will preserve your beauty despite the passage of time.
III. No matter how you look, I will still love you.
A) II only
B) I and II only
C) I and III only
D) II and III only
E) I, II, and III
8. On which of the following constructions does the poem implicitly or explicitly most rely?
A) Both . . . and
B) When . . . then
C) If . . . then
D) If . . . but
E) Since . . . therefore
9. One meaning of the word “glory” is a halo; if this meaning is intended in line 1, the image recurs in
A) line 2
B) line 5
C) line 9
D) line 11
E) line 14
10. The poem deliberately repeats all the following words and phrases EXCEPT
A) “spent”
B) “in me”
C) “fire”
D) “repent”
E) “faith”
11. All the following words and phrases are used to represent the beauty of the woman EXCEPT
A) “flower” (line 1)
B) “glory” (line 1)
C) “thy flame” (line 6)
D) “miracle” (line 9)
E) “golden hairs” (line 14)
12. All the following are used to represent the continuing love of the speaker EXCEPT
A) “truth” (line 4)
B) “wounds” (line 5)
C) “heat” (line 6)
D) “faith” (line 8)
E) “miracle” (line 9)
13. The rhetorical purpose of the speaker of the poem is to
A) convince the lady to return his love now
B) inform the lady about what the future will bring
C) warn the lady of the consequences of vanity
D) convince himself to give up a useless pursuit
E) convince the lady of the superiority of poetry to passion
14. Which of the following contrasts does the poem employ?
I. Youth vs. age
II. Growth vs. decline
III. Permanence vs. transience
IV. Truth vs. lie
A) I and III only
B) I, III, and IV only
C) II, III, and IV only
D) I, II, and III only
E) I, II, III, and IV
15. The poem employs religious diction in all the following words EXCEPT
A) “faith” (line 8)
B) “miracle” (line 9)
C) “faith” (line 11)
D) “repent” (line 12)
E) “scorned” (line 13)
16. The form of this poem is a
A) Shakespearean sonnet
B) Petrarchan sonnet
C) Romantic ode
D) Ballad
E) Villanelle
1. D
2. E
3. B
4. A
5. C
6. C
7. C
8. B
9. E
10. C
11. D
12. A
13. A
14. D
15. E
16. A