To the Queen: An Apologie for the Length of the Following Panegyrick
When you are mistresse of the song,Mighty queen, to thinke it long,Were treason 'gainst that majestyYour Vertue wears. Your modestyYet thinks it so. But ev'n that too--Infinite, since part of you--New matter for our Muse supplies,And so allowes what it denies.Say then dread queen, how may we doeTo mediate 'twixt your self and you?That so our sweetly temper'd songNor be too sort, nor seeme too long.Needs must your noble prayses' strengthThat made it long excuse the length.
Words in this poem
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To the Queen: An Apologie for the Length of the Following Panegyrick 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, To the Queen: An Apologie for the Length of the Following Panegyrick, in Steps to the Temple and Other Poems (1646–1652), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38549, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/crashaw-poems/to-the-queen-an-apologie-for-the-length-of-the-following-pan.html, id L12118.
Form and metre
To the Queen: An Apologie for the Length of the Following Panegyrick is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 71% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 43% 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 AA--BBCC-BAADD songA · longA · majesty · modesty · tooB · youB · suppliesC · deniesC · doe · youB · songA · longA · strengthD · lengthD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When you are mistresse of the song, | 8 | ········ |
| Mighty queen, to thinke it long, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Were treason 'gainst that majesty | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Your Vertue wears. Your modesty | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Yet thinks it so. But ev'n that too | 8 | ········ |
| --Infinite, since part of you-- | 7 | /˘˘···· |
| New matter for our Muse supplies, | 9 | ·/˘·/˘·˘/ |
| And so allowes what it denies. | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| Say then dread queen, how may we doe | 8 | ········ |
| To mediate 'twixt your self and you? | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| That so our sweetly temper'd song | 9 | ··/˘/˘/˘· |
| Nor be too sort, nor seeme too long. | 8 | ········ |
| Needs must your noble prayses' strength | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That made it long excuse the length. | 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.