On the Wounds of Our Crucified Lord
O, these wakefull wounds of Thine!Are they mouthes? or are they eyes?Be they mouthes, or be they eyne,Each bleeding part some one supplies.
Lo! a mouth! whose full-bloom'd lipsAt too dear a rate are roses:Lo! a blood-shot eye! that weeps,And many a cruell teare discloses.
O, thou that on this foot hast laidMany a kisse, and many a teare;Now thou shalt have all repaid,What soe're thy charges were.
This foot hath got a mouth and lipsTo pay the sweet summe of thy kisses;To pay thy teares, an eye that weeps,Instead of teares, such gems as this is.
The difference onely this appeares,(Nor can the change offend)The debt is paid in ruby-tearesWhich thou in pearles did'st lend.
Words in this poem
- wakefull a.
- Not sleeping; indisposed to sleep; watchful; vigilant.
- eyne n.
- Plural of eye; obsolete, or used only in poetry.
- cruell a.
- Disposed to give pain to others; willing or pleased to hurt, torment, or afflict; destitute of sympathetic kindness and pity; savage; inhuman; hard-hearted; merciless. [F. cruel, fr. L. crudelis, fr. crudus. See Crude.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- summe n.
- The aggregate of two or more numbers, magnitudes, quantities, or particulars; the amount or whole of any number of individuals or particulars added together; as, the sum of 5 and 7 is 12. [OE. summe, somme, OF. sume, some, F. somme, L. summa, fr. summus highest, a superlative from sub under. See Sub-, and cf. Supreme.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the Wounds of Our Crucified Lord 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, On the Wounds of Our Crucified Lord, in Steps to the Temple and Other Poems (1646–1652), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38549, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/crashaw-poems/on-the-wounds-of-our-crucified-lord.html, id L12049.
Form and metre
On the Wounds of Our Crucified Lord is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 20% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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 -A-A thine · eyesA · eyne · suppliesA
- 2 -A-A lips · rosesA · weeps · disclosesA
- 3 A-A- laidA · teare · repaidA · were
- 4 -A-A lips · kissesA · weeps · isA
- 5 -A-A appeares · offendA · teares · lendA
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| O, these wakefull wounds of Thine! | 8 | ········ |
| Are they mouthes? or are they eyes? | 7 | ······· |
| Be they mouthes, or be they eyne, | 7 | ······· |
| Each bleeding part some one supplies. | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Lo! a mouth! whose full-bloom'd lips | 7 | ······· |
| At too dear a rate are roses: | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Lo! a blood-shot eye! that weeps, | 7 | ······· |
| And many a cruell teare discloses. | 10 | ·/˘·/˘·˘/˘ |
| O, thou that on this foot hast laid | 8 | ········ |
| Many a kisse, and many a teare; | 9 | /˘···/˘·· |
| Now thou shalt have all repaid, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| What soe're thy charges were. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| This foot hath got a mouth and lips | 8 | ········ |
| To pay the sweet summe of thy kisses; | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| To pay thy teares, an eye that weeps, | 8 | ········ |
| Instead of teares, such gems as this is. | 9 | ˘/······· |
| The difference onely this appeares, | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘·˘/ |
| (Nor can the change offend) | 6 | ····˘/ |
| The debt is paid in ruby-teares | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Which thou in pearles did'st lend. | 6 | ······ |
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.