An Elegy upon the Death of Queene Anne
Noe; not a quatch, sad poets; doubt you,There is not greife enough without you?Or that it will asswage ill newes,To say, Shee’s dead, that was your muse?Joine not with Death to make these timesMore grievous then most grievous rimes.
And if ’t be possible, deare eyes,The famous Universityes,If bold your eyes bee matches, sleepe;Or, if you will be loyall, weepe:For-beare the press, there’s none will lookeBefore the mart for a new booke.
Why should you tell the world what wittsGrow at New-parkes, or Campus-pitts?Or what conceipts youth stumble on,Taking the ayre towards Trumpington?Nor you, grave tutours, who doe temperYour long and short with que and semper;O doe not, when your owne are done,Make for my ladyes eldest sonneVerses, which he will turne to prose,When he shall read what you compose:Nor, for an epithite that failes,Bite off your unpoëticke nailes.Unjust! Why should you in these vaines,Punish your fingers for your braines?
Know henceforth, that griefes vitall partConsists in nature, not in art:And verses that are studiedMourne for themselves, not for the dead.
Heark, the Queenes epitaph shall beeNoe other then her pedigree:For lines in bloud cutt out are strongerThen lines in marble, and last longer:And such a verse shall never fade,That is begotten, and not made.
“Her father, brother, husband, ... kinges;Royall relations! from her springesA prince and princesse; and from thoseFaire certaintyes, and rich hope growes.”Here’s poetry shall be secureWhile Britaine, Denmarke, Rheine endure:Enough on earth; what purchase higher,Save heaven, to perfect her desire?And as a straying starr intic’tAnd governd those wise-men to Christ,Ev’n soe a herauld-starr this yeareDid beckon to her to appeare:A starr which did not to our nationPortend her death, but her translation:For when such harbingers are seene,God crownes a saint, not kills a queene.
His father’s name I have not learned; but his mother, whose name wasRose, was buried at Twickenham, September the 13th, 1611, and theregister of the same parish proves that her son pursued her path the 29thApril, 1619.
Nescis quâ natale solum dulcedine captosDucit, et immemores non sinit esse sui.
Words in this poem 17
- deare
- variant of Dere, v. t. & n.
- loyall a.
- Faithful to law; upholding the lawful authority; faithful and true to the lawful government; faithful to the prince or sovereign to whom one is subject; unswerving in allegiance. [F. loyal, OF. loial, leial, L. legalis, fr. lex, legis, law. See Legal, and cf. Leal.]
- mart v. t.
- To buy or sell in, or as in, a mart.
- witts n.
- Tin ore freed from earthy matter by stamping. Knight.
- sonne n.
- A male child; the male issue, or offspring, of a parent, father or mother. [OE. sone, sune, AS. sunu; akin to D. zoon, OS., OFries., & OHG. sunu, G. sohn, Icel. sonr, Sw. son, Dan. sön, Goth. sunus, Lith. sunus, Russ. suin', Skr. sunu (]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- epithite n.
- A lazy, worthless fellow; a vagrant. Mason.
- henceforth adv.
- From this time forward; henceforward.
- vitall a.
- Belonging or relating to life, either animal or vegetable; as, vital energies; vital functions; vital actions. [F., fr. L. vitalis, fr. vita life; akin to vivere to live. See Vivid.]
- mourne n.
- The armed or feruled end of a staff; in a sheephook, the end of the staff to which the hook is attached. Sir P. Sidney. [See 2d Morne.]
- pedigree n.
- A line of ancestors; descent; lineage; genealogy; a register or record of a line of ancestors. [Of unknown origin; possibly fr. F. par degrés by degrees, -- for a pedigree is properly a genealogical table which records the relationship of families by degre]
- cutt v. t.
- To sparate the parts of with, or as with, a sharp instrument; to make an incision in; to gash; to sever; to divide. [OE. cutten, kitten, ketten; prob. of Celtic origin; cf. W. cwtau to shorten, curtail, dock, cwta bobtailed, cwt tail, skirt, Gael. cutaich to shorten, curtail, ]
- royall a.
- Kingly; pertaining to the crown or the sovereign; suitable for a king or queen; regal; as, royal power or prerogative; royal domains; the royal family; royal state. [OE. roial, riall, real, OF. roial. reial, F. royal, fr. L. regalis, fr. rex, regis, king. See Rich, and cf. regal, real a coin, Rial.]
- princesse a.
- A term applied to a lady's long, close-fitting dress made with waist and skirt in one. [F., a princess.]
- starr n.
- One of the innumerable luminous bodies seen in the heavens; any heavenly body other than the sun, moon, comets, and nebulæ. [OE. sterre, AS. steorra; akin to OFries. stera, OS. sterro, D. ster, OHG. sterno, sterro, G. stern, Icel. stjarna, Sw. stjerna, Dan. stierne, Goth. staírno, Arm]
- beckon v. t.
- To make a significant sign to; hence, to summon, as by a motion of the hand.
- portend v. t.
- To indicate (events, misfortunes, etc.) as in future; to foreshow; to foretoken; to bode; -- now used esp. of unpropitious signs. [L. portendre, portentum, to foretell, to predict, to impend, from an old preposition used in comp. + tendere to stretch. See Position, Tend.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
An Elegy upon the Death of Queene Anne 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, An Elegy upon the Death of Queene Anne, in Poems (1647), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #65375, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/corbet-poems/an-elegy-upon-the-death-of-queene-anne.html, id L08897.
Form and metre
An Elegy upon the Death of Queene Anne is 58 lines in 8 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 79% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.6 syllables. 12 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% 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 AABBCC youA · youA · newesB · museB · timesC · rimesC
- 2 AABBCC eyesA · universityesA · sleepeB · weepeB · lookeC · bookeC
- 3 AAB-CC-BDDEEFF wittsA · pittsA · onB · trumpington · temperC · semperC · done · sonneB · proseD · composeD · failesE · nailesE · vainesF · brainesF
- 4 AABB partA · artA · studiedB · deadB
- 5 --AABB bee · pedigree · strongerA · longerA · fadeB · madeB
- 6 AABBCCDD--EEFFGG kingesA · springesA · thoseB · growesB · secureC · endureC · higherD · desireD · intic't · christ · yeareE · appeareE · nationF · translationF · seeneG · queeneG
- 7 --AA was · the · — · —
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Noe; not a quatch, sad poets; doubt you, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| There is not greife enough without you? | 9 | ····˘/··· |
| Or that it will asswage ill newes, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| To say, Shee’s dead, that was your muse? | 8 | ········ |
| Joine not with Death to make these times | 8 | ········ |
| More grievous then most grievous rimes. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And if ’t be possible, deare eyes, | 9 | ····/˘˘·· |
| The famous Universityes, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| If bold your eyes bee matches, sleepe; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Or, if you will be loyall, weepe: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For-beare the press, there’s none will looke | 8 | ········ |
| Before the mart for a new booke. | 8 | ········ |
| Why should you tell the world what witts | 8 | ········ |
| Grow at New-parkes, or Campus-pitts? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Or what conceipts youth stumble on, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Taking the ayre towards Trumpington? | 9 | /˘······· |
| Nor you, grave tutours, who doe temper | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Your long and short with que and semper; | 9 | ········· |
| O doe not, when your owne are done, | 8 | ········ |
| Make for my ladyes eldest sonne | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Verses, which he will turne to prose, | 8 | /˘······ |
| When he shall read what you compose: | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Nor, for an epithite that failes, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Bite off your unpoëticke nailes. | 7 | ······· |
| Unjust! Why should you in these vaines, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Punish your fingers for your braines? | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Know henceforth, that griefes vitall part | 8 | ·//··/˘· |
| Consists in nature, not in art: | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| And verses that are studied | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Mourne for themselves, not for the dead. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Heark, the Queenes epitaph shall bee | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Noe other then her pedigree: | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| For lines in bloud cutt out are stronger | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Then lines in marble, and last longer: | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| And such a verse shall never fade, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That is begotten, and not made. | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| “Her father, brother, husband, ... kinges; | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Royall relations! from her springes | 8 | /˘˘/˘··· |
| A prince and princesse; and from those | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Faire certaintyes, and rich hope growes.” | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Here’s poetry shall be secure | 8 | ·/˘˘··˘/ |
| While Britaine, Denmarke, Rheine endure: | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Enough on earth; what purchase higher, | 9 | ˘/···/˘/˘ |
| Save heaven, to perfect her desire? | 10 | ·/˘·/··˘/˘ |
| And as a straying starr intic’t | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And governd those wise-men to Christ, | 8 | ········ |
| Ev’n soe a herauld-starr this yeare | 8 | ········ |
| Did beckon to her to appeare: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A starr which did not to our nation | 10 | ······/˘/˘ |
| Portend her death, but her translation: | 9 | ˘/····˘/˘ |
| For when such harbingers are seene, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| God crownes a saint, not kills a queene. | 8 | ········ |
| His father’s name I have not learned; but his mother, whose name was | 15 | ·/˘·······/˘··· |
| Rose, was buried at Twickenham, September the 13th, 1611, and the | 14 | ··/˘····˘/˘··· |
| register of the same parish proves that her son pursued her path the 29th | 16 | /˘···/˘····˘/··· |
| April, 1619. | 2 | /˘ |
| Nescis quâ natale solum dulcedine captos | 13 | /˘·˘/˘/˘····· |
| Ducit, et immemores non sinit esse sui. | 12 | ··········/˘ |
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