On Donne's Poetry
With Donne, whose muse on dromedary trots,Wreathe iron pokers into true-love knots;Rhyme's sturdy cripple, fancy's maze and clue,Wit's forge and fire-blast, meaning's press and screw.
Words in this poem
- dromedary n.
- The Arabian camel (Camelus dromedarius), having one hump or protuberance on the back, in distinction from the Bactrian camel, which has two humps. [F. dromadaire, LL. dromedarius, fr. L. dromas (sc. camelus), fr. Gr. dram to run.]
- cripple n.
- One who creeps, halts, or limps; one who has lost, or never had, the use of a limb or limbs; a lame person; hence, one who is partially disabled. [OE. cripel, crepel, crupel, AS. crypel (akin to D. kreuple, G. kr, Dan. kr, Icel. kryppill), prop., one that can not walk, but must creep, fr. AS. cre to creep.]
- maze n.
- A wild fancy; a confused notion. [OE. mase; cf. OE. masen to confuse, puzzle, Norweg. masast to fall into a slumber, masa to be continually busy, prate, chatter, Icel. masa to chatter, dial. Sw.]
- clue n.
- A ball of thread, yarn, or cord; also, The thread itself. [OE. clewe, clowe, clue, AS. cleowen, cliwen, clywe ball of thread; akin to D. kluwen, OHG. chliwa, chliuwa, G. dim. kleuel, knäuel, and perch. to L. gluma hull,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On Donne's Poetry is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Coleridge, Project Gutenberg ebook #8208; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, On Donne's Poetry, in Poems of Coleridge (1796–1817), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8208, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/coleridge-poems/on-donne-s-poetry.html, id L00350.
Form and metre
On Donne's Poetry is 4 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in common measure. 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in common measure.
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 AABB trotsA · knotsA · clueB · screwB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| With Donne, whose muse on dromedary trots, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘· |
| Wreathe iron pokers into true-love knots; | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Rhyme's sturdy cripple, fancy's maze and clue, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Wit's forge and fire-blast, meaning's press and screw. | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
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.