To Celia  

BY BEN JONSON 
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,  bouquet 
         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. 
 

The speaker tells a woman (we're guessing her name is Celia) to drink to him only with her eyes – kind of like
saying "cheers," but with her eyes instead of raising a glass. He goes on to describe his "thirst" for this woman.

We're not totally sure how much Celia likes the speaker, though. He tells us about how he sent her a wreath of
flowers once, but she returned it. The cool thing is that, even though she returned the wreath, it never wilted.
Somehow, Celia breathing on the wreath has given it eternal life.

Stanza 1

Lines 1-2

Drink to me only with thine eyes

And I will pledge with mine;

 The poem opens with the speaker addressing a woman (presumably). Because of the title, we're guessing
she's named Celia.
 He tells her to "drink" to him "only" with her "eyes." In other words, he's telling her that she doesn't
have to hold up a beer and say cheers, but only has to use her eyes. It's kind of like when you say, "I'll
drink to the Bears winning the Super Bowl."

 The speaker says that he, too, will "pledge" – i.e., "drink" or say "cheers" or something to that effect –
with his eyes.

Lines 3-4

Or leave a kiss but in the cup,

And I'll not look for wine;

 If she doesn't want to "drink," the speaker says she can just leave a kiss "but in the cup," and he won't
care if there's no wine in it ("I'll not look for wine").
  "But" in line 3 means something like "just" or "only," and it sounds funny because it's out of place. The
line really means "just leave a kiss in the cup, baby" or "only leave a kiss in the cup."

Lines 5-6

The thirst that from the soul doth rise,

Doth ask a drink divine:

 The speaker explains his desire for a drink that is not a drink. You know, he's asking for a cup with a
kiss in it instead of wine.
 He says that his thirst isn't a bodily thirst (in other words, he's not dehydrated in the desert and craving
water), but rather a more spiritual one (it is a thirst "from the soul").
 Because his "thirst" is from the "soul," it requires something more "divine" than, say, "wine" to satisfy
it.
 Notice that line 6 is a shorter line than the previous five; they all contained eight syllables, while line 6
only contains, fittingly, six syllables.

Lines 7-8

But might I of Jove's nectar sup,

I would not change for thine.

 The speaker next delivers a couplet (a pair of lines) that is meant to express how he feels about the
refreshing spiritual beverage Celia can offer him.
 He says that even if he could drink nectar from Jove's cup ("might I of Jove's nectar sup") he wouldn't;
he would rather have Celia's cup ("thine").
 While this is the gist of these lines, the word choices are a bit awkward. The speaker seems to be saying
"if I were allowed to drink Jove's nectar, I wouldn't 'change' the way things are, 'for' I prefer your
beverage, my lady."
 It is also possible that the speaker means he wouldn't exchange Jove's nectar for Celia's "nectar" of love,
an interpretation that contradicts a lot of what the speaker has been saying.
 Hold up! Who the heck is Jove? Good question. Jove is another name for the Greek god Zeus (or Jupiter
to the Romans), the king of gods who live on Mount Olympus. The gods on Olympus are big fans of
drinking "nectar."

Stanza 2

Lines 9-12

I sent thee, late, a rosy wreath,

Not so much honoring thee,
As giving it a hope that there
It could not withered be.

 The speaker stops talking about thirst and drinking. Now he moves on to tell a little story about his
relationship with the girl.
 He says he sent her a "rosy wreath." Why? "Not so much" because he wanted to show her how much he
likes her. Instead he wanted to give "it" (the wreath) the hope of everlasting life ("it could not withered
be").
 In other words, the speaker views Celia as some sort of divine or enchanted figure that can keep things
alive that will normally wither and die (like a wreath of flowers).
Lines 13-14

But thou thereon did'st only breathe,

And sent'st it back to me;

 Hmm. Seems like the speaker's experiment didn't quite turn out as planned. That "but" at the beginning
of line 13 tells us as much. The speaker basically says, "rather than keep the wreath to see if it wouldn't
die, she sent it back to me."
 Apparently, the woman breathed on the wreath before she sent it back.

Lines 15-16

Since when it grows, and smells, I swear,

Not of itself, but thee.

 The speaker knows that the woman must have breathed on the wreath "since" when it grows it smells,
not like a wreath of flowers, but like Celia.
 The phrase "I swear" is a bit odd. It sounds like the speaker is saying, "I swear it smells of thee," but that
is awkward because then we are left with an incomplete clause. For it to make sense, the speaker would
have had to say, "since when it grows, [it] smells, I swear, not of itself, but [of] thee." Of course, it is
possible that the speaker is engaging in the age-old poetic practice of leaving things out.
 Alternatively, the speaker could just be saying, "I swear," like when we say "it's true, I swear." Either
way, it's pretty clear what the lines mean.
 It's also important to note that the wreath still "grows." But wait. Don't you have to cut the flowers or
plants to make a wreath? So how could it still be growing? Well, it seems like the speaker's wish from
line 12 has come true (the wreath hasn't "withered"). Still, we bet he wasn't hoping to get the wreath
back

Themes 
1. Courtly Love 
The speaker talks about how he doesn't need a real drink, only a cup that has been kissed by the woman
he loves. The speaker thinks that Celia is so angelic or special that she can, potentially, keep a wreath of
flowers from withering. If "To Celia" is about love, however, it is also about how, sometimes, the things
we love can also let us down, if only a little bit. After all, Celia does return the speakers wreath. 
Jonson borrowed the conventions of courtly love for the poem but manipulated them to create his unique
voice. Traditionally, the lover in these poems is stricken by his lady's beauty, which causes him to
idealize her. Ever obedient to her wishes, the humble lover strives to be worthy of her. His feelings of
love ennoble him and lead him on the path to moral excellence. 
Jonson expresses the cult of the beloved in his poem through his vision of the lady whose kisses are
sweeter than the nectar of the gods and whose breath can grant immortality. However, this speaker does
not humble himself to his mistress. He has a calm assurance not found in conventional courtly love
poems. In the first stanza, he subtly acknowledges that his lady might be reluctant to express her love for
him when he suggests that she leave a kiss in the cup. Traditional lovers would prostrate themselves at
their lady's feet, but Jonson's speaker calmly provides an alternative to drinking to him with her eyes. 
 
 
2. MORTALITY 
While "To Celia" doesn't really talk about death in any direct way, it does glance at the sad fact that
things die. Think about it: the speaker sends the woman he admires a "rosy wreath" (9) because he wants
to see if she has the power to keep it from wilting and dying. The speaker also frequently compares the
 earthly or mortal realm with more divine, immortal things, suggesting that it's difficult to talk about one
without the other. 
The speaker contrasts mortal things with immortal things in this poem, and ultimately suggests that what
we may think is mortal turns out to possess qualities associated with the divine. 
The speaker's interest in immortality speaks to an underlying fear or obsession with mortality. 
 
3. SPIRITUALITY 
There is no obvious spirituality in "To Celia," but the speaker does talk about the soul and implies that
there is something spiritual and divine about love. He suggests that a show of love from Celia would be
a "drink divine," even more "divine" than the nectar, the drink of the immortal Greek and Roman gods.
While the speaker is all about elevating the spiritual over the material, and the "drink divine" of love
over actual beverages, he also can't separate spiritual from material; he can't talk about one without the
other.   
The speaker's emphasis on things like love and desire gives way at the end of the poem to an emphasis
on more mundane concerns, like how the wreath smells, the fact that it still grows, etc. In other words,
the poem seems to back out of its emphasis on the spiritual, on the "thirst that from the soul doth rise" 
FORM 
 
Structure and Rhyme Scheme 
The poem consists of two stanzas of eight lines each. There are three sentences: Lines 1 to 4, Lines 5 to 8, and
Lines 9 to 16. The first stanza centers on love as an ethereal, insubstantial elixir. The second centers on a wreath
sent to Celia by the poet. The rhyming lines are as follows: Lines 1 and 5 (eyes, rise); Lines 2, 4, 6, and 8 (mine,
wine, divine, thine), Lines 3 and 7 (cup, sup); Lines 9 and 13 (wreath, breathe), Lines 10, 12, 14, 16 (thee, be,
me, thee), and Lines 11 and 15 (there, swear). Notice that the rhyming lines of Stanza 1 match, in order of
occurrence, the rhyming lines of Stanza 2. For example, in Stanza 1, eyes at the end of the first line rhymes
with rise and the end of the fifth line. In Stanza 2, wreath at the end of the first line (Line 9) rhymes
with breathe at the end of the fifth line (Line 13) 
The rhyme scheme is abcb in the first stanza and defe in the second stanza. 
 
Meter 
The first line has eight syllables (four feet); the second, six syllables (three feet). The rest of the poem follows
this pattern: four feet, three feet; four feet, three feet; and so on. In each line (whether eight or six syllables), the
first syllable is unstressed, the second is stressed, the third is unstressed, the fourth is stressed, and so on. Thus,
the first line below is in iambic tetrameter; the second is in iambic trimeter. The following example
demonstrates the metric scheme of the first two lines. The unstressed syllables are in blue; the stressed are in red
capitals. Over each pair of syllables is a number representing the foot. Also, a black vertical line separates the
feet. 
.......1..............2................3..............4  
Drink TO..|..me ON..|..ly WITH..|..thine EYES...........(Iambic Tetrameter) 
....1........./........2..................3 
And I..|..will PLEDGE..|..with MINE............................(Iambic Trimeter) 
 
FIGURES OF SPEECH AND ALLUSIONS 
Metaphor: The first stanza is a metaphor comparing love to an ethereal elixir.  
Alliteration: kiss, cup; drink divine; rosy wreath; thou thereon; smell, swear 
Personification: The thirst . . . doth ask 
Allusion, Jove: In Roman mythology, another name for Jupiter, king of the gods. In Greek mythology, Jove's
name was Zeus. 
Allusion, Nectar: In Greek and Roman mythology, the gods drank nectar, a drink that preserved their
immortality. Nectar is derived from the Greek words nekros (dead body) and tar (overcoming or defeating).
Thus, nectar means overcoming death.