Vpon the Death of a Gentleman
Faithlesse and fond Mortality!Who will ever credit thee?Fond, and faithlesse thing! that thus,In our best hopes beguilest us.What a reckoning hast thou made,Of the hopes in him we laid!For life by volumes lengthened,A line or two to speake him dead.For the laurell in his verse,The sullen cypresse o're his herse crapeFor soe many hoped yearesOf fruit, soe many fruitles teares:For a silver-crowned headA durty pillow in Death's bed.For so deare, so deep a trust,Sad requitall, thus much dust!Now though the blow that snatch him hence,Stopt the mouth of Eloquence:Though shee be dumbe e're since his death,Not us'd to speake but in his breath;Leaving his death vngarnishedTherefore, because hee is deadYet if at least shee not denyes,The sad language of our eyes,Wee are contented: for then thisLanguage none more fluent is.Nothing speakes our griefe so wellAs to speak nothing. Come then tellThy mind in teares who e're thou be,That ow'st a name to misery.Eyes are vocall, teares have tongues,And there be words not made with lungs;Sententious showres: O let them fall,Their cadence is rhetoricall.Here's a theame will drinke th' expence,Of all thy watry eloquence.Weepe then! onely be exprestThus much, 'he's dead:' and weep the rest.
Words in this poem
- 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.
- laurell n.
- An evergreen shrub, of the genus Laurus (L. nobilis), having aromatic leaves of a lanceolate shape, with clusters of small, yellowish white flowers in their axils; -- called also sweet bay. [OE. lorel, laurer, lorer, OF. lorier, laurier, F. laurier, (assumed) LL. Laurarius, fr. L. laurus.]
- sullen a.
- Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
- cypresse n.
- A rule for construing written instruments so as to conform as nearly to the intention of the parties as is consistent with law. [OF., nearly.]
- herse n.
- A kind of gate or portcullis, having iron bars, like a harrow, studded with iron spikes. It is hung above gateways so that it may be quickly lowered, to impede the advance of an enemy. Farrow. [F. herse harrow, portcullis, OF. herce, LL. hercia, L. hirpex, gen. hirpicis, and irpex, gen. irpicis, harrow. The LL. hercia signifies also a kind of candlesti]
- deare
- variant of Dere, v. t. & n.
- vocall a.
- Of or pertaining to the voice or speech; having voice; endowed with utterance; full of voice, or voices. [L. vocalis, fr. vox, vocis, voice: cf. F. vocal. See Voice, and cf. Vowel.]
- rhetoricall a.
- Of or pertaining to rhetoric; according to, or exhibiting, rhetoric; oratorical; as, the rhetorical art; a rhetorical treatise; a rhetorical flourish. [L. rhetoricus, Gr. Rhetoric.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Vpon the Death of a Gentleman 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 Death of a Gentleman, 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-death-of-a-gentleman.html, id L12100.
Form and metre
Vpon the Death of a Gentleman is 38 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 58% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.5 syllables. 6 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 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 --AABB------CCDDEEFF--GG--HH--IIJJ--KK mortality · thee · thusA · usA · madeB · laidB · lengthened · dead · verse · crape · yeares · teares · headC · bedC · trustD · dustD · henceE · eloquenceE · deathF · breathF · vngarnished · dead · denyesG · eyesG · this · is · wellH · tellH · be · misery · tonguesI · lungsI · fallJ · rhetoricallJ · expence · eloquence · exprestK · restK
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Faithlesse and fond Mortality! | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| Who will ever credit thee? | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Fond, and faithlesse thing! that thus, | 7 | ······· |
| In our best hopes beguilest us. | 8 | ·/··˘/˘· |
| What a reckoning hast thou made, | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| Of the hopes in him we laid! | 7 | ······· |
| For life by volumes lengthened, | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| A line or two to speake him dead. | 8 | ········ |
| For the laurell in his verse, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| The sullen cypresse o're his herse crape | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| For soe many hoped yeares | 7 | ··/˘·˘· |
| Of fruit, soe many fruitles teares: | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| For a silver-crowned head | 7 | ··/˘·˘· |
| A durty pillow in Death's bed. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| For so deare, so deep a trust, | 7 | ······· |
| Sad requitall, thus much dust! | 7 | ······· |
| Now though the blow that snatch him hence, | 8 | ········ |
| Stopt the mouth of Eloquence: | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Though shee be dumbe e're since his death, | 8 | ········ |
| Not us'd to speake but in his breath; | 8 | ········ |
| Leaving his death vngarnished | 7 | /˘····˘ |
| Therefore, because hee is dead | 7 | ······· |
| Yet if at least shee not denyes, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The sad language of our eyes, | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| Wee are contented: for then this | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Language none more fluent is. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Nothing speakes our griefe so well | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| As to speak nothing. Come then tell | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Thy mind in teares who e're thou be, | 8 | ········ |
| That ow'st a name to misery. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Eyes are vocall, teares have tongues, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And there be words not made with lungs; | 8 | ········ |
| Sententious showres: O let them fall, | 8 | ˘/˘/···· |
| Their cadence is rhetoricall. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Here's a theame will drinke th' expence, | 7 | ······· |
| Of all thy watry eloquence. | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Weepe then! onely be exprest | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Thus much, 'he's dead:' and weep the rest. | 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.