Upon Fairford Windows
Tell me, you anti-saints, why brassWith you is shorter lived than glass?And why the saints have scap’t their fallsBetter from windows than from walles?Is it, because the Brethrens firesMaintain a glass-house at Blackfryars?Next which the church stands North and South,And East and West the preacher’s mouth.Or is ’t, because such painted wareResembles something that you are,Soe py’de, soe seeming, soe unsoundIn manners, and in doctrine, found,That, out of emblematick witt,You spare yourselves in sparing it?If it be soe, then, Faireford, boastThy church hath kept what all have lost;And is preserved from the baneOf either warr, or puritane:Whose life is colour’d in thy paint,The inside drosse, the outside saint.
Words in this poem
- witt v. t.
- To know; to learn. [OE. witen, pres. ich wot, wat, I know (wot), imp. wiste, AS. witan, pres. wat, imp. wiste, wisse; akin to OFries. wita, OS. witan, D. weten, G. wissen, OHG. wiz]
- bane v. t.
- To be the bane of; to ruin. Fuller.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Upon Fairford Windows 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, Upon Fairford Windows, in Poems (1647), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #65375, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/corbet-poems/upon-fairford-windows.html, id L08919.
Form and metre
Upon Fairford Windows is 20 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 80% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 35% 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 AABBCCDD--EEFF--GGHH brassA · glassA · fallsB · wallesB · firesC · blackfryarsC · southD · mouthD · ware · are · unsoundE · foundE · wittF · itF · boast · lost · baneG · puritaneG · paintH · saintH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Tell me, you anti-saints, why brass | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With you is shorter lived than glass? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And why the saints have scap’t their falls | 8 | ········ |
| Better from windows than from walles? | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Is it, because the Brethrens fires | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Maintain a glass-house at Blackfryars? | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Next which the church stands North and South, | 8 | ········ |
| And East and West the preacher’s mouth. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Or is ’t, because such painted ware | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Resembles something that you are, | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| Soe py’de, soe seeming, soe unsound | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| In manners, and in doctrine, found, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| That, out of emblematick witt, | 8 | ········ |
| You spare yourselves in sparing it? | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| If it be soe, then, Faireford, boast | 9 | ········· |
| Thy church hath kept what all have lost; | 8 | ········ |
| And is preserved from the bane | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Of either warr, or puritane: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Whose life is colour’d in thy paint, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The inside drosse, the outside saint. | 8 | ·˘/··//· |
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.