Vpon Her Numerous Progenie: A Panegyrick
Britain! the mighty Ocean's lovely bride!Now stretch thy self, fair isle, and grow: spread wideThy bosome, and make roome. Thou art opprestWith thine own glories, and art strangely blestBeyond thy self: for (lo!) the gods, the godsCome fast upon thee; and those glorious odsSwell thy full honours to a pitch so highAs sits above thy best capacitie.Are they not ods? and glorious? that to theeThose mighty genii throng, which well might beEach one an Age's labour? that thy dayesAre gilded with the union of those rayesWhose each divided beam would be a sunneTo glad the sphere of any Nation?Sure, if for these thou mean'st to find a seat,Th' hast need, O Britain, to be truly Great.And so thou art; their presence makes thee so:They are thy greatnesse. Gods, where-e're they go,Bring their Heav'n with them: their great footsteps placeAn everlasting smile upon the faceOf the glad Earth they tread on: while with theeThose beames that ampliate mortalitie,And teach it to expatiate and swellTo majestie and fulnesse, deign to dwell,Thou by thy self maist sit, (blest Isle) and seeHow thy great mother Nature dotes on thee.Thee therefore from the rest apart she hurl'd,And seem'd to make an Isle, but made a World.
Time yet hath dropt few plumes since Hope turn'd Joy,And took into his armes the princely boy,Whose birth last blest the bed of his sweet mother,And bad us first salute our prince, a brother.
Words in this poem
- isle v. t.
- To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
- strangely adv.
- As something foreign, or not one's own; in a manner adapted to something foreign and strange.
- 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.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- ampliate a.
- Having the outer edge prominent; said of the wings of insects.
- expatiate v. i.
- To range at large, or without restraint. [L. expatiatus, exspatiatus, p. p. of expatiari, exspatiari, to expatiate; ex out + spatiari to walk about spread out, fr. spatium space. See Space.]
- deign v. t.
- To esteem worthy; to consider worth notice; -- opposed to disdain. [OE. deinen, deignen, OF. degner, deigner, daigner, F. daigner, fr. L. dignari to deem worthy, deign, fr. dignus worthy; akin to decere to be fitting. See Decent]
- 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]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Vpon Her Numerous Progenie: A 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, Vpon Her Numerous Progenie: A Panegyrick, in Steps to the Temple and Other Poems (1646–1652), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38549, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/crashaw-poems/vpon-her-numerous-progenie-a-panegyrick.html, id L12119.
Form and metre
Vpon Her Numerous Progenie: A Panegyrick is 32 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 4 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 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 AABBCCDEDDFFGG--HHIIDEJJDDKK brideA · wideA · opprestB · blestB · godsC · odsC · highD · capacitieE · theeD · beD · dayesF · rayesF · sunneG · nationG · seat · great · soH · goH · placeI · faceI · theeD · mortalitieE · swellJ · dwellJ · seeD · theeD · hurl'dK · worldK
- 2 AABB joyA · boyA · motherB · brotherB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Britain! the mighty Ocean's lovely bride! | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Now stretch thy self, fair isle, and grow: spread wide | 10 | ·········· |
| Thy bosome, and make roome. Thou art opprest | 11 | ········/˘˘ |
| With thine own glories, and art strangely blest | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Beyond thy self: for (lo!) the gods, the gods | 10 | ·········· |
| Come fast upon thee; and those glorious ods | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Swell thy full honours to a pitch so high | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| As sits above thy best capacitie. | 10 | ·········· |
| Are they not ods? and glorious? that to thee | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Those mighty genii throng, which well might be | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Each one an Age's labour? that thy dayes | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| Are gilded with the union of those rayes | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Whose each divided beam would be a sunne | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| To glad the sphere of any Nation? | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Sure, if for these thou mean'st to find a seat, | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| Th' hast need, O Britain, to be truly Great. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And so thou art; their presence makes thee so: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| They are thy greatnesse. Gods, where-e're they go, | 10 | ·········· |
| Bring their Heav'n with them: their great footsteps place | 10 | ·······/·· |
| An everlasting smile upon the face | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Of the glad Earth they tread on: while with thee | 10 | ·········· |
| Those beames that ampliate mortalitie, | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| And teach it to expatiate and swell | 10 | ····˘/˘˘·· |
| To majestie and fulnesse, deign to dwell, | 10 | ·········· |
| Thou by thy self maist sit, (blest Isle) and see | 10 | ·········· |
| How thy great mother Nature dotes on thee. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Thee therefore from the rest apart she hurl'd, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| And seem'd to make an Isle, but made a World. | 10 | ·········· |
| Time yet hath dropt few plumes since Hope turn'd Joy, | 10 | ·········· |
| And took into his armes the princely boy, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Whose birth last blest the bed of his sweet mother, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| And bad us first salute our prince, a brother. | 11 | ····˘//··/˘ |
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.