Vpon the Frontispeece of Mr. Isaackson's Chronologie
Let hoary Time's vast bowels be the graveTo what his bowels' birth and being gave;Let Nature die, (Phoenix-like) from deathRevived Nature takes a second breath;If on Time's right hand, sit faire Historie,If from the seed of emptie Ruine, sheCan raise so faire an harvest; let her beNe're so farre distant, yet Chronologie(Sharp-sighted as the eagle's eye, that canOut-stare the broad-beam'd daye's meridian)Will have a perspicill to find her out,And, through the night of error and dark doubt,Discerne the dawne of Truth's eternall ray,As when the rosie Morne budds into Day.Now that Time's empire might be amply fill'd,Babel's bold artists strive (below) to buildRuine a temple; on whose fruitfull fallHistory reares her pyramids, more tallThan were th' Aegyptian (by the life these give,Th' Egyptian pyramids themselves must live):On these she lifts the world; and on their baseShowes the two termes, and limits of Time's race:That, the creation is; the judgement, this;That, the World's morning; this, her midnight is.
Words in this poem
- hoary a.
- White or whitish."The hoary willows."
- farre n.
- A young pig, or a litter of pigs. [See Farrow.]
- perspicill n.
- An optical glass; a telescope. Crashaw. [LL. perspicilla, fr. L. perspicere to look through.]
- eternall a.
- Without beginning or end of existence; always existing. [F. éternel, L. aeternalis, fr. aeternus. See Etern.]
- morne a.
- Of or pertaining to the morn; morning.
- amply adv.
- In an ample manner.
- 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.
- termes n.
- A genus of Pseudoneuroptera including the white ants, or termites. See Termite. [L. termes, tarmes, -itis, a woodworm. Cf. Termite.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Vpon the Frontispeece of Mr. Isaackson's Chronologie 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 Frontispeece of Mr. Isaackson's Chronologie, 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-frontispeece-of-mr-isaackson-s-chronologie.html, id L12113.
Form and metre
Vpon the Frontispeece of Mr. Isaackson's Chronologie is 24 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 75% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, 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 9.9 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 42% 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 AABBCDDCEEFFGGHHIIJJKK-- graveA · gaveA · deathB · breathB · historieC · sheD · beD · chronologieC · canE · meridianE · outF · doubtF · rayG · dayG · fill'dH · buildH · fallI · tallI · giveJ · liveJ · baseK · raceK · this · is
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Let hoary Time's vast bowels be the grave | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| To what his bowels' birth and being gave; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Let Nature die, (Phoenix-like) from death | 9 | ·/˘·/˘··· |
| Revived Nature takes a second breath; | 10 | ˘/˘/˘··/˘· |
| If on Time's right hand, sit faire Historie, | 10 | ·········· |
| If from the seed of emptie Ruine, she | 9 | ········· |
| Can raise so faire an harvest; let her be | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Ne're so farre distant, yet Chronologie | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| (Sharp-sighted as the eagle's eye, that can | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Out-stare the broad-beam'd daye's meridian) | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| Will have a perspicill to find her out, | 10 | ·········· |
| And, through the night of error and dark doubt, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Discerne the dawne of Truth's eternall ray, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| As when the rosie Morne budds into Day. | 11 | ···/˘/˘···· |
| Now that Time's empire might be amply fill'd, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Babel's bold artists strive (below) to build | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Ruine a temple; on whose fruitfull fall | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| History reares her pyramids, more tall | 10 | /˘˘··/˘˘·· |
| Than were th' Aegyptian (by the life these give, | 10 | ·········· |
| Th' Egyptian pyramids themselves must live): | 10 | ˘/˘/˘˘˘/·· |
| On these she lifts the world; and on their base | 10 | ·········· |
| Showes the two termes, and limits of Time's race: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| That, the creation is; the judgement, this; | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| That, the World's morning; this, her midnight is. | 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.