The Catholick
I HOLD as faith What England’s church alowsWhat Rome’s church saith My conscience disavowsWhere the King’s head That church can have noThe flocks misled shameWhere the altars drest That holds the PopeThe peoples blest supreame.He’s but an asse There’s service scarce divineWho shuns the masse With table, bread, and wine.Who the communion fliesIs catholick and wise.London: printed for George Eversden, at the signe of theMaidenhead, in St. Powle’s Church-yard, 1655. Cum privilegio.
Words in this poem
- saith
- 3d pers. sing. pres. of Say.
- conscience n.
- Knowledge of one's own thoughts or actions; consciousness. [F. conscience, fr. L. conscientia, fr. consciens, p.pr. of conscire to know, to be conscious; con- + scire to know. See Science.]
- asse n.
- A small foxlike animal (Vulpes cama) of South Africa, valued for its fur.
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- masse n.
- A stroke made with the cue held vertically.
- maidenhead n.
- The state of being a maiden; maidenhood; virginity. [See Maidenhood.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Catholick is in the public domain. This text is taken from Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England, Project Gutenberg ebook #649; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Bell, The Catholick, in Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of England (1857), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #649, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bell-ancient-poems/the-catholick.html, id L11905.
Form and metre
The Catholick is 12 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.1 syllables. 67% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AA-B-BCCDD-- alowsA · disavowsA · no · shameB · pope · supreameB · divineC · wineC · fliesD · wiseD · the · privilegio
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I HOLD as faith What England’s church alows | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| What Rome’s church saith My conscience disavows | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Where the King’s head That church can have no | 9 | ········· |
| The flocks misled shame | 5 | ··˘/· |
| Where the altars drest That holds the Pope | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| The peoples blest supreame. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| He’s but an asse There’s service scarce divine | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Who shuns the masse With table, bread, and wine. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Who the communion flies | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Is catholick and wise. | 6 | ······ |
| London: printed for George Eversden, at the signe of the | 14 | /˘/˘·········· |
| Maidenhead, in St. Powle’s Church-yard, 1655. Cum privilegio. | 14 | /˘˘··/˘······· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.