Prayer
Lo here a little volume, but great book!(Feare it not, sweet,It is no hipocrit)Much larger in itselfe then in its looke.A nest of new-born sweets;Whose natiue fires disdainingTo ly thus folded, and complainingOf these ignoble sheets,Affect more comly bands(Fair one) from thy kind hands;And confidently lookTo find the restOf a rich binding in your brest.It is, in one choise handfull, Heauvn; and allHeaun's royall host; incampt thus smallTo proue that true, Schooles vse to tell,Ten thousand angels in one point can dwell.It is Loue's great artilleryWhich here contracts it self, and comes to lyClose-couch't in your white bosom; and from thenceAs from a snowy fortresse of defence,Against the ghostly foes to take your part,And fortify the hold of your chast heart.It is an armory of light;Let constant vse but keep it bright,You'l find it yieldsTo holy hands and humble heartsMore swords and sheildsThen sin hath snares, or Hell hath darts.Only be sureThe hands be pureThat hold these weapons; and the eyes,Those of turtles, chast and true;Wakefull and wise:Here is a freind shall fight for you;Hold but this book before your heart,Let prayer alone to play his part;But O the heartThat studyes this high artMust be a sure house-keeper:And yet no sleeper.Dear soul, be strong!Mercy will come e're longAnd bring his bosome fraught with blessings,Flowers of neuer-fading gracesTo make immortall dressingsFor worthy soules, whose wise embracesStore vp themselues for Him, Who is aloneThe Spovse of virgins and the virgin's Son.But if the noble Bridegroom, when He come,Shall find the loytering heart from home;Leauing her chast aboadTo gadde abroadAmong the gay mates of the god of flyes;To take her pleasure, and to playAnd keep the deuill's holyday;To dance in th' sunshine of some smilingBut beguilingSpheare of sweet and sugred lyes;Some slippery pairOf false, perhaps, as fair,Flattering but forswearing, eyes;Doubtlesse some other heartWill gett the startMeanwhile, and stepping in beforeWill take possession of that sacred storeOf hidden sweets and holy ioyes;Words which are not heard with eares(Those tumultuous shops of noise)Effectuall whispers, whose still voiceThe soul it selfe more feeles then heares;Amorous languishments; luminous trances;Sights which are not seen with eyes;Spirituall and soul-peircing glancesWhose pure and subtil lightning flyesHome to the heart, and setts the house on fire,And melts it down in sweet desireYet doth not stayTo ask the windows' leaue, to passe that way;Delicious deaths; soft exalationsOf soul; dear and diuine annihilations;A thousand vnknown ritesOf ioyes and rarefy'd delights;A hundred thousand goods, glories, and graces:And many a mystick thingWhich the diuine embracesOf the deare Spouse of spirits, with them will bring,For which it is no shameThat dull mortality must not know a name.Of all this hidden storeOf blessings, and ten thousand more(If when He comeHe find the heart from home)Doubtlesse He will vnloadHimself some other where,And poure abroadHis pretious sweetsOn the fair soul whom first He meets.O fair, O fortunate! O riche! O dear!O happy and thrice-happy sheDeare silver-breasted doveWho ere she be,Whose early loueWith winged vowesMakes hast to meet her morning Spouse,And close with His immortall kisses.Happy indeed, who neuer missesTo improue that pretious hour,And euery daySeize her sweet prey,All fresh and fragrant as He rises,Dropping with a baulmy showr,A delicious dew of spices;O let the blissfull heart hold it fastHer heaunly arm-full; she shall tastAt once ten thousand paradises;She shall haue powerTo rifle and deflourThe rich and roseall spring of those rare sweetsWhich with a swelling bosome there she meets:Boundles and infiniteBottomles treasuresOf pure inebriating pleasures.Happy proof! she shal discouerWhat ioy, what blisse,How many heau'ns at once it isTo haue her God become her Lover.
Words in this poem 31
- confidently adv.
- With confidence; with strong assurance; positively.
- handfull n.
- As much as the hand will grasp or contain. [AS. handfull.]
- 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.]
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- artillery n.
- Munitions of war; implements for warfare, as slings, bows, and arrows. [OE. artilrie, OF. artillerie, arteillerie, fr. LL. artillaria, artilleria, machines and apparatus of all kinds used in war, vans laden with arms of any kind whi]
- snowy a.
- White like snow.
- defence n.
- The act of defending, or the state of being defended; protection, as from violence or danger. [F. défense, OF. defense, fem., defens, masc., fr. L. defensa (cf. Fence.]
- ghostly a.
- Relating to the soul; not carnal or secular; spiritual; as, a ghostly confessor. [OE. gastlich, gostlich, AS. gastlic. See Ghost.]
- armory n.
- A place where arms and instruments of war are deposited for safe keeping. [OF. armaire, armarie, F. armoire, fr. L. armarium place for keeping arms; but confused with F. armoiries. See Armorial, Ambry.]
- wakefull a.
- Not sleeping; indisposed to sleep; watchful; vigilant.
- 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,]
- sleeper n.
- One who sleeps; a slumberer; hence, a drone, or lazy person.
- fraught n.
- A freight; a cargo. [OE.fraight, fraght; akin to Dan. fragt, Sw. frakt, D. vracht, G. fracht, cf. OHG. fr merit, reward; perh. from corresponding to E. for + The root of E. own. Cf.]
- immortall a.
- Not mortal; exempt from liability to die; undying; imperishable; lasting forever; having unlimited, or eternal, existance. [L. immortalis; pref. im- not + mortalis mortal: cf. F. immortel. See Mortal, and cf. Immortelle.]
- bridegroom n.
- A man newly married, or just about to be married. [OE. bridegome, brudgume, AS. br (akin to OS. br, D. bruidegom, bruigom, OHG. pr, MHG. briutegome, G. bräutigam); AS. br bride + guma man, akin to Goth. guma, Ic]
- gadde n.
- The point of a spear, or an arrowhead. [OE. gad, Icel. gaddr goad, sting; akin to Sw. gadd sting, Goth. gazds, G. gerte switch. See Yard a measure.]
- holyday n.
- A religious festival.
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- beguiling a.
- Alluring by guile; deluding; misleading; diverting.
- gett n.
- Jet, the mineral.
- meanwhile n.
- The intervening time; as, in the meantime (or mean time).
- effectuall a.
- Producing, or having adequate power or force to produce, an intended effect; adequate; efficient; operative; decisive. [See Effect, n.]
- spirituall a.
- Consisting of spirit; not material; incorporeal; as, a spiritual substance or being. [L. spiritualis: cf. F. spirituel. See Spirit.]
- passe a.
- Past; gone by; hence, past one's prime; worn; faded; as, a passée belle. Ld. Lytton. [F.]
- deare
- variant of Dere, v. t. & n.
- spouse v. t.
- To wed; to espouse. [See Espouse, and Spouse, n.]
- mortality n.
- The condition or quality of being mortal; subjection to death or to the necessity of dying. [L. mortalitas: cf. F. mortalité.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- blissfull a.
- Full of, characterized by, or causing, joy and felicity; happy in the highest degree.
- deflour v. t.
- To deprive of flowers. [F. déflorer, LL. deflorare; L. de- + flos, floris, flower. See Flower, and cf. Deflorate.]
- roseall a.
- resembling a rose in smell or color. Sir T. Elyot. [L. roseus, fr. rosa a rose.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Prayer 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, Prayer, in Steps to the Temple and Other Poems (1646–1652), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38549, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/crashaw-poems/prayer.html, id L12073.
Form and metre
Prayer is 127 lines in a single stanza. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter. 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.3 syllables. 30 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 A--ABCCBDD-EEFFGG--HHIIJJ-K-KLLMNMNOOOOPPQQRSRS--TTUU-VVWWXYYXZZaabcb-cbbbbddeeffgghihijjkkllmnmoonp-p---qq-rr---ss-ttuu-vv--v- bookA · sweet · hipocrit · lookeA · sweetsB · disdainingC · complainingC · sheetsB · bandsD · handsD · look · restE · brestE · allF · smallF · tellG · dwellG · artillery · ly · thenceH · defenceH · partI · heartI · lightJ · brightJ · yields · heartsK · sheilds · dartsK · sureL · pureL · eyesM · trueN · wiseM · youN · heartO · partO · heartO · artO · keeperP · sleeperP · strongQ · longQ · blessingsR · gracesS · dressingsR · embracesS · alone · son · comeT · homeT · aboadU · abroadU · flyes · playV · holydayV · smilingW · beguilingW · lyesX · pairY · fairY · eyesX · heartZ · startZ · beforea · storea · ioyesb · earesc · noiseb · voice · hearesc · trancesb · eyesb · glancesb · flyesb · fired · desired · staye · waye · exalationsf · annihilationsf · ritesg · delightsg · gracesh · thingi · embracesh · bringi · shamej · namej · storek · morek · comel · homel · vnloadm · wheren · abroadm · sweetso · meetso · dearn · shep · dove · bep · loue · vowes · spouse · kissesq · missesq · hour · dayr · preyr · rises · showr · spices · fasts · tasts · paradises · powert · deflourt · sweetsu · meetsu · infinite · treasuresv · pleasuresv · discouer · blisse · isv · lover
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Lo here a little volume, but great book! | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| (Feare it not, sweet, | 4 | ···· |
| It is no hipocrit) | 6 | ······ |
| Much larger in itselfe then in its looke. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| A nest of new-born sweets; | 6 | ······ |
| Whose natiue fires disdaining | 7 | ··/˘˘/˘ |
| To ly thus folded, and complaining | 9 | ···/˘·˘/˘ |
| Of these ignoble sheets, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Affect more comly bands | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| (Fair one) from thy kind hands; | 6 | ······ |
| And confidently look | 6 | ·/˘˘˘· |
| To find the rest | 4 | ···· |
| Of a rich binding in your brest. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| It is, in one choise handfull, Heauvn; and all | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Heaun's royall host; incampt thus small | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To proue that true, Schooles vse to tell, | 8 | ········ |
| Ten thousand angels in one point can dwell. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| It is Loue's great artillery | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| Which here contracts it self, and comes to ly | 10 | ··/······· |
| Close-couch't in your white bosom; and from thence | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| As from a snowy fortresse of defence, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Against the ghostly foes to take your part, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And fortify the hold of your chast heart. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| It is an armory of light; | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Let constant vse but keep it bright, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| You'l find it yields | 4 | ···· |
| To holy hands and humble hearts | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| More swords and sheilds | 4 | ···· |
| Then sin hath snares, or Hell hath darts. | 8 | ········ |
| Only be sure | 4 | /˘·· |
| The hands be pure | 4 | ···· |
| That hold these weapons; and the eyes, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Those of turtles, chast and true; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Wakefull and wise: | 5 | ····· |
| Here is a freind shall fight for you; | 8 | ········ |
| Hold but this book before your heart, | 8 | ········ |
| Let prayer alone to play his part; | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| But O the heart | 4 | ···· |
| That studyes this high art | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Must be a sure house-keeper: | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And yet no sleeper. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Dear soul, be strong! | 4 | ···· |
| Mercy will come e're long | 6 | /˘···· |
| And bring his bosome fraught with blessings, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Flowers of neuer-fading graces | 9 | /˘·/˘/˘/˘ |
| To make immortall dressings | 7 | ··˘/˘/˘ |
| For worthy soules, whose wise embraces | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| Store vp themselues for Him, Who is alone | 10 | ········˘/ |
| The Spovse of virgins and the virgin's Son. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| But if the noble Bridegroom, when He come, | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| Shall find the loytering heart from home; | 9 | ········· |
| Leauing her chast aboad | 5 | ····· |
| To gadde abroad | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Among the gay mates of the god of flyes; | 10 | ·········· |
| To take her pleasure, and to play | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And keep the deuill's holyday; | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| To dance in th' sunshine of some smiling | 9 | ···/···/˘ |
| But beguiling | 4 | ·˘/˘ |
| Spheare of sweet and sugred lyes; | 6 | ······ |
| Some slippery pair | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| Of false, perhaps, as fair, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Flattering but forswearing, eyes; | 8 | /˘˘·˘/˘· |
| Doubtlesse some other heart | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Will gett the start | 4 | ···· |
| Meanwhile, and stepping in before | 8 | /··/˘··· |
| Will take possession of that sacred store | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Of hidden sweets and holy ioyes; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Words which are not heard with eares | 7 | ······· |
| (Those tumultuous shops of noise) | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| Effectuall whispers, whose still voice | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The soul it selfe more feeles then heares; | 8 | ········ |
| Amorous languishments; luminous trances; | 11 | /˘˘···/˘˘/˘ |
| Sights which are not seen with eyes; | 7 | ······· |
| Spirituall and soul-peircing glances | 10 | /˘˘˘··/˘/˘ |
| Whose pure and subtil lightning flyes | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Home to the heart, and setts the house on fire, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| And melts it down in sweet desire | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Yet doth not stay | 4 | ···· |
| To ask the windows' leaue, to passe that way; | 11 | ···/˘···/·· |
| Delicious deaths; soft exalations | 9 | ˘/˘······ |
| Of soul; dear and diuine annihilations; | 10 | ·····˘·˘/˘ |
| A thousand vnknown rites | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Of ioyes and rarefy'd delights; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| A hundred thousand goods, glories, and graces: | 11 | ·/˘/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| And many a mystick thing | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Which the diuine embraces | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| Of the deare Spouse of spirits, with them will bring, | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| For which it is no shame | 6 | ······ |
| That dull mortality must not know a name. | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Of all this hidden store | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Of blessings, and ten thousand more | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| (If when He come | 4 | ···· |
| He find the heart from home) | 6 | ······ |
| Doubtlesse He will vnload | 5 | ····· |
| Himself some other where, | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| And poure abroad | 4 | ··˘/ |
| His pretious sweets | 4 | ···· |
| On the fair soul whom first He meets. | 8 | ········ |
| O fair, O fortunate! O riche! O dear! | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| O happy and thrice-happy she | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Deare silver-breasted dove | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Who ere she be, | 4 | ···· |
| Whose early loue | 4 | ·/˘· |
| With winged vowes | 3 | ··· |
| Makes hast to meet her morning Spouse, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And close with His immortall kisses. | 9 | ····˘/˘/˘ |
| Happy indeed, who neuer misses | 9 | /˘˘/·/˘/˘ |
| To improue that pretious hour, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And euery day | 4 | ···· |
| Seize her sweet prey, | 4 | ···· |
| All fresh and fragrant as He rises, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Dropping with a baulmy showr, | 7 | /˘····· |
| A delicious dew of spices; | 8 | ·˘/˘··/˘ |
| O let the blissfull heart hold it fast | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Her heaunly arm-full; she shall tast | 8 | ········ |
| At once ten thousand paradises; | 9 | ···/˘˘/˘˘ |
| She shall haue power | 5 | ···/˘ |
| To rifle and deflour | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| The rich and roseall spring of those rare sweets | 10 | ·········· |
| Which with a swelling bosome there she meets: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Boundles and infinite | 5 | ··/˘˘ |
| Bottomles treasures | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Of pure inebriating pleasures. | 9 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Happy proof! she shal discouer | 7 | /˘····· |
| What ioy, what blisse, | 4 | ···· |
| How many heau'ns at once it is | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To haue her God become her Lover. | 9 | ····˘/·/˘ |
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.