Unto Her Majesty's Sacred Honourable Maids
Eternal Twins! that conquer death and time,Perpetual advocates in heaven and earth!Fair, chaste, immaculate, and all divine,Glorious alone, before the first man's birth;Your twofold charities, celestial lights,Bow your sun-rising eyes, planets of joy,Upon these orphan poems; in whose rightsConceit first claimed his birthright to enjoy.If, pitiful, you shun the song of death,Or fear the stain of love's life-dropping blood,O know then, you are pure; and purer faithShall still keep white the flower, the fruit, and bud.Love moveth all things. You that love, shall moveAll things in him, and he in you shall love.
Words in this poem
- immaculate a.
- Without stain or blemish; spotless; undefiled; clear; pure. [L. immaculatus; pref. im- not + maculatus, p. p. of maculare to spot, stane, fr. macula spot. See Mail armor.]
- 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.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Unto Her Majesty's Sacred Honourable Maids is in the public domain. This text is taken from Elizabethan Sonnet-Cycles: Delia - Diana, Project Gutenberg ebook #18842; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Samuel Daniel, Unto Her Majesty's Sacred Honourable Maids, in Delia, with Constable's Diana (1592), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18842, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/daniel-delia/unto-her-majesty-s-sacred-honourable-maids.html, id L02780.
Form and metre
Unto Her Majesty's Sacred Honourable Maids is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDEFEFGG, the pattern of the English sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 21% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end. Rhymes that have moved apart since the poem was written: love / prove.
See other English sonnets, 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 ABABCDCDEFEFGG timeA · earthB · divineA · birthB · lightsC · joyD · rightsC · enjoyD · deathE · bloodF · faithE · budF · moveG · loveG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Eternal Twins! that conquer death and time, | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| Perpetual advocates in heaven and earth! | 10 | ˘/˘/˘··/·· |
| Fair, chaste, immaculate, and all divine, | 10 | ··˘/˘˘··˘/ |
| Glorious alone, before the first man's birth; | 10 | /˘˘/······ |
| Your twofold charities, celestial lights, | 10 | ·///˘˘˘/˘· |
| Bow your sun-rising eyes, planets of joy, | 10 | ···/˘·/˘·· |
| Upon these orphan poems; in whose rights | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Conceit first claimed his birthright to enjoy. | 10 | ˘/···/··˘/ |
| If, pitiful, you shun the song of death, | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| Or fear the stain of love's life-dropping blood, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| O know then, you are pure; and purer faith | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Shall still keep white the flower, the fruit, and bud. | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Love moveth all things. You that love, shall move | 10 | ·········· |
| All things in him, and he in you shall love. | 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.