Lyric Poem · Love
Song: To Celia (Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes)
by Ben Jonson · 1616
Drink to me only with thine eyes,
And I will pledge with mine;
Or leave a kiss but in the cup,
And I'll not look for wine.
The thirst that from the soul doth rise
Doth ask a drink divine;
But might I of Jove's nectar sup,
I would not change for thine.
I sent thee late a rosy wreath,
Not so much honouring thee
As giving it a hope, that there
It could not withered be.
But thou thereon didst only breathe,
And sent'st it back to me;
Since when it grows, and smells, I swear,
Not of itself, but thee.
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“Song: To Celia (Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes)” by Ben Jonson — quilloak.com/poems/song-to-celia
Quick facts
- Poem
- Song: To Celia (Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes)
- Poet
- Ben Jonson
- Published
- 1616
- Length
- 16 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem, Rhyming Poems
- Themes
- Love
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 16 lines · 2 octaves
- Line length
- Lines run 6-8 syllables (median 8), consistent with tetrameter. No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
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Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Ben Jonson1572–1637
- Source record
- PoetryDBSong: To Celia (Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes) by ben-jonson, PoetryDB transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- 1616
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 172a9f7545803058…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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