The Prince and Duke of York
Bright Charles! thou sweet dawn of a glorious Day!Centre of those thy grandsires (shall I say,Henry and James? or, Mars and Phoebus rather?If this were Wisdome's god, that War's stern father;'Tis but the same is said: Henry and JamesAre Mars and Phoebus under diverse names):O thou full mixture of those mighty soulsWhose vast intelligences tun'd the polesOf Peace and War; thou, for whose manly browBoth lawrels twine into one wreath, and wooTo be thy garland: see (sweet prince), O see,Thou, and the lovely hopes that smile in thee,Art ta'n out and transcrib'd by thy great mother:See, see thy reall shadow; see thy brother,Thy little self in lesse: trace in these eyneThe beams that dance in those full stars of thine.From the same snowy alabaster rockThose hands and thine were hewn; those cherries mockThe corall of thy lips: thou wert of allThis well-wrought copie the fair principall.
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.]
- centre v. i.
- To be placed in a center; to be central.
- 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,]
- phoebus n.
- Apollo; the sun god.
- reall a.
- Royal; regal; kingly.
- eyne n.
- Plural of eye; obsolete, or used only in poetry.
- snowy a.
- White like snow.
- corall n.
- The hard parts or skeleton of various Anthozoa, and of a few Hydrozoa. Similar structures are also formed by some Bryozoa. [Of. coral, F, corail, L. corallum, coralium, fr. Gr. kora`llion.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Prince and Duke of York 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, The Prince and Duke of York, in Steps to the Temple and Other Poems (1646–1652), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38549, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/crashaw-poems/the-prince-and-duke-of-york.html, id L12120.
Form and metre
The Prince and Duke of York is 20 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 70% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 45% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AAB-CCDD--EEBB--FFGG dayA · sayA · ratherB · father · jamesC · namesC · soulsD · polesD · brow · woo · seeE · theeE · motherB · brotherB · eyne · thine · rockF · mockF · allG · principallG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Bright Charles! thou sweet dawn of a glorious Day! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Centre of those thy grandsires (shall I say, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Henry and James? or, Mars and Phoebus rather? | 11 | /˘·····/˘/˘ |
| If this were Wisdome's god, that War's stern father; | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| 'Tis but the same is said: Henry and James | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| Are Mars and Phoebus under diverse names): | 10 | ···/˘··˘/· |
| O thou full mixture of those mighty souls | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Whose vast intelligences tun'd the poles | 10 | ··˘/˘˘˘··· |
| Of Peace and War; thou, for whose manly brow | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Both lawrels twine into one wreath, and woo | 10 | ·········· |
| To be thy garland: see (sweet prince), O see, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Thou, and the lovely hopes that smile in thee, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Art ta'n out and transcrib'd by thy great mother: | 11 | ····˘/···/˘ |
| See, see thy reall shadow; see thy brother, | 10 | ····/···/˘ |
| Thy little self in lesse: trace in these eyne | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The beams that dance in those full stars of thine. | 10 | ·········· |
| From the same snowy alabaster rock | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘· |
| Those hands and thine were hewn; those cherries mock | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The corall of thy lips: thou wert of all | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| This well-wrought copie the fair principall. | 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.