A Non Sequitur
Marke! how the lanterns clowd mine eyes,See where a moon-drake ’gins to rise;Saturne crawls much like an iron catt,To see the naked moone in a slipshott hatt.Thunder-thumping toadstools crock the potsTo see the mermaids tumble;Leather cat-a-mountaines shake their heels,To heare the gosh-hawke grumble.The rustic threedBegins to bleed,And cobwebs elbows itches;The putrid skyesEat mulsacke pyes,Backed up in logicke breches.Munday trenchers made good hay,The lobster weares no dagger;Meale-mouthed she-peacocke powle the starres,And made the lowbell stagger.Blew crocodiles foame in the toe,Blind meale-bagges do follow the doe;A ribb of apple braine spiceWill follow the Lancashire dice.Harke! how the chime of Plutoes pispot cracks,To see the rainbowes wheele-gann made of flax.
Words in this poem
- hatt
- sing. pres. of Hote to be called. Cf. Hatte.
- crock n.
- The loose black particles collected from combustion, as on pots and kettles, or in a chimney; soot; smut; also, coloring matter which rubs off from cloth. [Cf. W. croeg cover, Scot. crochit covered.]
- grumble v. i.
- To murmur or mutter with discontent; to make ill-natured complaints in a low voice and a surly manner. [Cf. LG. grummeln, grumman, D. grommelen, grommen, and F. grommeler, of German origin; cf. W. grwm, murmur, grumble, surly. sq. root35. Cf. Grum, Grim.]
- lowbell n.
- A bell used in fowling at night, to frighten birds, and, with a sudden light, to make them fly into a net. [Low a flame + bell.]
- ribb n.
- One of the curved bones attached to the vertebral column and supporting the lateral walls of the thorax. [AS. rib, ribb; akin to D. rib, G. rippe, OHG. rippa, rippi, Dan. ribbe, Icel. rif, Russ. rebro.]
- chime n.
- The harmonious sound of bells, or of musical instruments. [OE. chimbe, prop., cymbal, OF. cymbe, cymble, in a dialectic form, chymble, F. cymbale, L. cymbalum, fr. Gr. Cymbal.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Non Sequitur is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Richard Corbet, late bishop of Oxford and of Norwich 4th edition, Project Gutenberg ebook #65375; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Richard Corbet, A Non Sequitur, in Poems (1647), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #65375, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/corbet-poems/a-non-sequitur.html, id L08912.
Form and metre
A Non Sequitur is 24 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.6 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 17% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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-C-CDD-AA--E-EFFGGHH eyesA · riseA · cattB · hattB · pots · tumbleC · heels · grumbleC · threedD · bleedD · itches · skyesA · pyesA · breches · hay · daggerE · starres · staggerE · toeF · doeF · spiceG · diceG · cracksH · flaxH
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Marke! how the lanterns clowd mine eyes, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| See where a moon-drake ’gins to rise; | 8 | ········ |
| Saturne crawls much like an iron catt, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| To see the naked moone in a slipshott hatt. | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| Thunder-thumping toadstools crock the pots | 9 | /˘/˘····· |
| To see the mermaids tumble; | 7 | ···/·/˘ |
| Leather cat-a-mountaines shake their heels, | 9 | /˘··/˘··· |
| To heare the gosh-hawke grumble. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The rustic threed | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Begins to bleed, | 4 | ˘/·· |
| And cobwebs elbows itches; | 7 | ·/·/·/˘ |
| The putrid skyes | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Eat mulsacke pyes, | 4 | ···· |
| Backed up in logicke breches. | 7 | ······· |
| Munday trenchers made good hay, | 7 | /·/˘··· |
| The lobster weares no dagger; | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Meale-mouthed she-peacocke powle the starres, | 10 | ·········· |
| And made the lowbell stagger. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Blew crocodiles foame in the toe, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Blind meale-bagges do follow the doe; | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| A ribb of apple braine spice | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Will follow the Lancashire dice. | 8 | ·/˘·/˘·· |
| Harke! how the chime of Plutoes pispot cracks, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To see the rainbowes wheele-gann made of flax. | 11 | ···/······· |
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.