Vpon the Bleeding Crucifix: A Song
IIESU, no more! It is full tide:From Thy head and from Thy feet,From Thy hands and from Thy sideAll the purple riuers meet.
What need Thy fair head bear a partIn showres, as if Thine eyes had none?What need they help to drown Thy heart,That striues in torrents of it's own?
Water'd by the showres they bring,The thornes that Thy blest browe encloses(A cruell and a costly spring)Conceiue proud hopes of proving roses.
Thy restlesse feet now cannot goeFor vs and our eternall good,As they were euer wont. What though?They swimme, alas! in their own floud.
Thy hand to giue Thou canst not lift;Yet will Thy hand still giuing be.It giues, but O itself's the gift:It giues though bound; though bound 'tis free.
But O Thy side, Thy deep-digg'd side!That hath a double Nilus going:Nor euer was the Pharian tideHalf so fruitfull, half so flowing.
No hair so small, but payes his riuerTo this Red Sea of Thy blood;Their little channells can deliuerSomthing to the generall floud.
But while I speak, whither are runAll the riuers nam'd before?I counted wrong: there is but one;But O that one is one all ore.
Rain-swoln riuers may rise proud,Bent all to drown and overflow;But when indeed all's ouerflow'd,They themselues are drowned too.
This Thy blood's deluge (a dire chance,Dear Lord, to Thee) to vs is foundA deluge of deliuerance;A deluge least we should be drown'd. lestN'ere wast Thou in a sense so sadly true,The well of liuing waters, Lord, till now.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- eternall a.
- Without beginning or end of existence; always existing. [F. éternel, L. aeternalis, fr. aeternus. See Etern.]
- swimme v. i.
- To be supported by water or other fluid; not to sink; to float; as, any substance will swim, whose specific gravity is less than that of the fluid in which it is immersed. [AS. swimman; akin to D. zwemmen, OHG. swimman, G. schwimmen, Icel. svimma, Dan. swömme, Sw. simma. Cf. Sound an air bladder, a strait.]
- fruitfull a.
- Full of fruit; producing fruit abundantly; bearing results; prolific; fertile; liberal; bountiful; as, a fruitful tree, or season, or soil; a fruitful wife.
- generall a.
- Relating to a genus or kind; pertaining to a whole class or order; as, a general law of animal or vegetable economy. [F. général, fr. L. generalis. See Genus.]
- whither adv.
- To what place; -- used interrogatively; as, whither goest thou [OE. whider. AS. hwider; akin to E. where, who; cf. Goth. hvadre whither. See Who, and cf. Hither, Thither.]
- dire a.
- Ill-boding; portentous; as, dire omens. [L. dirus; of uncertain origin.]
- wast
- The second person singular of the verb be, in the indicative mood, imperfect tense; -- now used only in solemn or poetical style.
- sadly adv.
- Wearily; heavily; firmly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Vpon the Bleeding Crucifix: A Song 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 the Bleeding Crucifix: A Song, in Steps to the Temple and Other Poems (1646–1652), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38549, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/crashaw-poems/vpon-the-bleeding-crucifix-a-song.html, id L12050.
Form and metre
Vpon the Bleeding Crucifix: A Song is 42 lines in 10 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 5 of its 10 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.9 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 24% 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 ABAB tideA · feetB · sideA · meetB
- 2 A-A- partA · none · heartA · own
- 3 ABAB bringA · enclosesB · springA · rosesB
- 4 A-A- goeA · good · thoughA · floud
- 5 ABAB liftA · beB · giftA · freeB
- 6 ABAB sideA · goingB · tideA · flowingB
- 7 A-A- riuerA · blood · deliuerA · floud
- 8 ABAB runA · beforeB · oneA · oreB
- 9 A-A- proudA · overflow · ouerflow'dA · too
- 10 A-A--- chanceA · found · deliueranceA · lest · true · now
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 |
|---|---|---|
| IIESU, no more! It is full tide: | 8 | ········ |
| From Thy head and from Thy feet, | 7 | ······· |
| From Thy hands and from Thy side | 7 | ······· |
| All the purple riuers meet. | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| What need Thy fair head bear a part | 8 | ········ |
| In showres, as if Thine eyes had none? | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| What need they help to drown Thy heart, | 8 | ········ |
| That striues in torrents of it's own? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Water'd by the showres they bring, | 8 | /˘··/˘·· |
| The thornes that Thy blest browe encloses | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| (A cruell and a costly spring) | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Conceiue proud hopes of proving roses. | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Thy restlesse feet now cannot goe | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For vs and our eternall good, | 10 | ·/˘·/˘˘/˘· |
| As they were euer wont. What though? | 7 | ······· |
| They swimme, alas! in their own floud. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Thy hand to giue Thou canst not lift; | 8 | ········ |
| Yet will Thy hand still giuing be. | 7 | ······· |
| It giues, but O itself's the gift: | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| It giues though bound; though bound 'tis free. | 8 | ········ |
| But O Thy side, Thy deep-digg'd side! | 8 | ········ |
| That hath a double Nilus going: | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Nor euer was the Pharian tide | 7 | ······· |
| Half so fruitfull, half so flowing. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| No hair so small, but payes his riuer | 8 | ········ |
| To this Red Sea of Thy blood; | 7 | ······· |
| Their little channells can deliuer | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Somthing to the generall floud. | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| But while I speak, whither are run | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| All the riuers nam'd before? | 6 | ······ |
| I counted wrong: there is but one; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But O that one is one all ore. | 8 | ········ |
| Rain-swoln riuers may rise proud, | 6 | ······ |
| Bent all to drown and overflow; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But when indeed all's ouerflow'd, | 7 | ··˘/··· |
| They themselues are drowned too. | 6 | ······ |
| This Thy blood's deluge (a dire chance, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Dear Lord, to Thee) to vs is found | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| A deluge of deliuerance; | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| A deluge least we should be drown'd. lest | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| N'ere wast Thou in a sense so sadly true, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The well of liuing waters, Lord, till now. | 9 | ····/˘··· |
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