From Petronius
The bird that's fetch't from Phasis floud,Or choicest hennes of Africk-brood;These please our palates; and why these?'Cause they can but seldome please.Whil'st the goose soe goodly white,And the drake, yeeld noe delight,Though his wings' conceited hewePaint each feather, as if new.These for vulgar stomacks be,And rellish not of rarity.But the dainty Scarus, soughtIn farthest clime; what e're is boughtWith shipwrack's toile, oh, that is sweet,'Cause the quicksands hansell'd it.The pretious barbill, now growne rife,Is cloying meat. How stale is wife?Deare wife hath ne're a handsome letter,Sweet mistris sounds a great deale better.Rose quakes at name of cinnamon.Unlesse't be rare, what's thought vpon?
Words in this poem
- goodly a.
- Pleasant; agreeable; desirable. [OE. godlich, AS. g. See Good, and Like.]
- drake n.
- The male of the duck kind. [Akin to LG. drake, OHG. antrache, anetrecho, G. enterich, Icel. andriki, Dan. andrik, OSw. andrak, andrage, masc., and fr. AS. ened, fem., duck; akin to D. eend]
- conceited a.
- Endowed with fancy or imagination.
- hewe n.
- A domestic servant; a retainer. [Cf. Hind a peasant.]
- rarity n.
- The quality or state of being rare; rareness; thinness; as, the rarity (contrasted with the density) of gases. [L. raritas: cf. F. rareté. See Rare.]
- dainty n.
- Value; estimation; the gratification or pleasure taken in anything. [OE. deinie, dainte, deintie, deyntee, OF. deintié delicacy, orig., dignity, honor, fr. L. dignitas, fr. dignus worthy. See Deign, and cf. Dignity.]
- scarus n.
- A Mediterranean food fish (Sparisoma scarus) od excellent quality and highly valued by the Romans; -- called also parrot fish. [L. See Scar a kind of fish.]
- clime n.
- A climate; a tract or region of the earth. See Climate. [L. clima. See Climate.]
- rife a.
- Prevailing; prevalent; abounding. [AS. rif abundant, or Icel. rifr munificent; akin to OD. riff, rijve, abundant.]
- deare
- variant of Dere, v. t. & n.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
From Petronius is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Works of Richard Crashaw, Volume I, Project Gutenberg ebook #38549; 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 Crashaw, From Petronius, in Steps to the Temple and Other Poems (1646–1652), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38549, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/crashaw-poems/from-petronius.html, id L12131.
Form and metre
From Petronius is 20 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 60% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 15% 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--DD--EEFF-- floud · brood · theseA · pleaseA · whiteB · delightB · heweC · newC · be · rarity · soughtD · boughtD · sweet · it · rifeE · wifeE · letterF · betterF · cinnamon · vpon
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The bird that's fetch't from Phasis floud, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Or choicest hennes of Africk-brood; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| These please our palates; and why these? | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| 'Cause they can but seldome please. | 7 | ······· |
| Whil'st the goose soe goodly white, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And the drake, yeeld noe delight, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Though his wings' conceited hewe | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Paint each feather, as if new. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| These for vulgar stomacks be, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And rellish not of rarity. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| But the dainty Scarus, sought | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| In farthest clime; what e're is bought | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| With shipwrack's toile, oh, that is sweet, | 9 | ········· |
| 'Cause the quicksands hansell'd it. | 7 | ··/···· |
| The pretious barbill, now growne rife, | 8 | ········ |
| Is cloying meat. How stale is wife? | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Deare wife hath ne're a handsome letter, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Sweet mistris sounds a great deale better. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Rose quakes at name of cinnamon. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Unlesse't be rare, what's thought vpon? | 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.