On Mr. Francis Beaumont, Then Newly Dead
“twin stars that runTheir glorious course round Shakespeare’s honoured sun.”
He that hath such acuteness and such witAs would aske ten good heads to husband it;He that can write so well, that no man dareRefuse it for the best, let him beware:Beaumont is dead! by whose sole death appearsWit’s a disease consumes men in few yeares.
Words in this poem
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- beware v. t.
- To avoid; to take care of; to have a care for.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On Mr. Francis Beaumont, Then Newly Dead 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, On Mr. Francis Beaumont, Then Newly Dead, in Poems (1647), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #65375, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/corbet-poems/on-mr-francis-beaumont-then-newly-dead.html, id L08891.
Form and metre
On Mr. Francis Beaumont, Then Newly Dead is 8 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.2 syllables. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 runA · sunA
- 2 AABBCC witA · itA · dareB · bewareB · appearsC · yearesC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “twin stars that run | 4 | ···· |
| Their glorious course round Shakespeare’s honoured sun.” | 10 | ·/˘··/·/˘· |
| He that hath such acuteness and such wit | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| As would aske ten good heads to husband it; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| He that can write so well, that no man dare | 10 | ·········· |
| Refuse it for the best, let him beware: | 10 | ˘/······˘/ |
| Beaumont is dead! by whose sole death appears | 10 | /˘······˘/ |
| Wit’s a disease consumes men in few yeares. | 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.