Vpon Two Greene Apricockes Sent to Cowley by Sir Crashaw
Take these, Time's tardy truants, sent by meTo be chastis'd (sweet friend) and chide by thee.Pale sons of our Pomona! whose wan cheekesHave spent the patience of expecting weekes,Yet are scarce ripe enough at best to showThe redd, but of the blush to thee they ow.By thy comparrison they shall put onMore Summer in their shame's reflection,Than ere the fruitfull Phoebus' flaming kissesKindled on their cold lips. O had my wishesAnd the deare merits of your Muse, their due,The yeare had found some fruit early as you;Ripe as those rich composures Time computesBlossoms, but our blest tast confesses fruits.How does thy April-Autumne mocke these coldProgressions 'twixt whose termes poor Time grows old!With thee alone he weares no beard, thy braineGives him the morning World's fresh gold againe.'Twas only Paradice, 'tis onely thou,Whose fruit and blossoms both blesse the same bough.Proud in the patterne of thy pretious youth,Nature (methinks) might easily mend her growth.Could she in all her births but coppie thee,Into the publick yeares proficiencie,No fruit should have the face to smile on thee(Young master of the World's maturitie)But such whose sun-borne beauties what they borrowOf beames to day, pay back again to morrow,Nor need be double-gilt. How then must thesePoor fruites looke pale at thy Hesperides!Faine would I chide their slownesse, but in theirDefects I draw mine own dull character.Take them, and me in them acknowledging,How much my Summer waites upon thy Spring.
Words in this poem
- pomona n.
- The goddess of fruits and fruit trees. [L., from pomum fruit.]
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- redd
- . imp. & p. p. of Read.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- 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.
- deare
- variant of Dere, v. t. & n.
- termes n.
- A genus of Pseudoneuroptera including the white ants, or termites. See Termite. [L. termes, tarmes, -itis, a woodworm. Cf. Termite.]
- methinks v.
- It seems to me; I think. See Me. [AS. þyncan to seem, me þynceedh, me þuhte, OE. me thinketh, me thoughte; akin to G. dünken to seem, denken to think, and E. think. See Me, and Think.]
- borrow v. t.
- To receive from another as a loan, with the implied or expressed intention of returning the identical article or its equivalent in kind; -- the opposite of lend. [OE. borwen, AS. borgian, fr. borg, borh, pledge; akin to D. borg, G. borg; prob. fr. root of AS. beorgan to protect. Borough.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Vpon Two Greene Apricockes Sent to Cowley by Sir Crashaw 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 Two Greene Apricockes Sent to Cowley by Sir Crashaw, in Steps to the Temple and Other Poems (1646–1652), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #38549, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/crashaw-poems/vpon-two-greene-apricockes-sent-to-cowley-by-sir-crashaw.html, id L12124.
Form and metre
Vpon Two Greene Apricockes Sent to Cowley by Sir Crashaw is 34 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 53% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 38% 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 AA--BBCC--DDEEFFGGHH---I-I------JJ meA · theeA · cheekes · weekes · showB · owB · onC · reflectionC · kisses · wishes · dueD · youD · computesE · fruitsE · coldF · oldF · braineG · againeG · thouH · boughH · youth · growth · thee · proficiencieI · thee · maturitieI · borrow · morrow · these · hesperides · their · character · acknowledgingJ · springJ
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Take these, Time's tardy truants, sent by me | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| To be chastis'd (sweet friend) and chide by thee. | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Pale sons of our Pomona! whose wan cheekes | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Have spent the patience of expecting weekes, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Yet are scarce ripe enough at best to show | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| The redd, but of the blush to thee they ow. | 10 | ·········· |
| By thy comparrison they shall put on | 10 | ·········· |
| More Summer in their shame's reflection, | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| Than ere the fruitfull Phoebus' flaming kisses | 11 | ···/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| Kindled on their cold lips. O had my wishes | 11 | /˘·······/˘ |
| And the deare merits of your Muse, their due, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The yeare had found some fruit early as you; | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| Ripe as those rich composures Time computes | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| Blossoms, but our blest tast confesses fruits. | 10 | /˘·/··˘/˘· |
| How does thy April-Autumne mocke these cold | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Progressions 'twixt whose termes poor Time grows old! | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| With thee alone he weares no beard, thy braine | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Gives him the morning World's fresh gold againe. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| 'Twas only Paradice, 'tis onely thou, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Whose fruit and blossoms both blesse the same bough. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Proud in the patterne of thy pretious youth, | 10 | ·········· |
| Nature (methinks) might easily mend her growth. | 10 | /˘˘/·/˘··· |
| Could she in all her births but coppie thee, | 10 | ·········· |
| Into the publick yeares proficiencie, | 10 | ·········· |
| No fruit should have the face to smile on thee | 10 | ·········· |
| (Young master of the World's maturitie) | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| But such whose sun-borne beauties what they borrow | 11 | ·····/˘··/· |
| Of beames to day, pay back again to morrow, | 11 | ······˘/·/˘ |
| Nor need be double-gilt. How then must these | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Poor fruites looke pale at thy Hesperides! | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| Faine would I chide their slownesse, but in their | 10 | ·········· |
| Defects I draw mine own dull character. | 10 | ˘/·····/˘˘ |
| Take them, and me in them acknowledging, | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| How much my Summer waites upon thy Spring. | 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.