Clandestine Marriage, Cryptogamia
The Class of FOUR POWERS, is divided also into two Orders; in one ofthese the seeds are inclosed in a silicule, as in Shepherd's purse.No. xiv. Fig. 5. In the other they are inclosed in a silique, as inWall-flower. Fig. 4.
And in the Class of CLANDESTINE MARRIAGE, the four Orders are termedFERNS, MOSSES, FLAGS, and FUNGUSSES.
To the SYSTEM OF VEGETABLES is prefixed a copious explanation of all theTerms used in Botany, translated from a thesis of Dr. ELMSGREEN, with theplates and references from the Philosophia Botannica of LINNEUS.
Words in this poem
- silique n.
- An oblong or elongated seed vessel, consisting of two valves with a dissepiment between, and opening by sutures at either margin. [L. siliqua a pod or husk, a very small weight or measure: cf. F. silique.]
- thesis n.
- A position or proposition which a person advances and offers to maintain, or which is actually maintained by argument. [L., fr. Gr. Do, and cf. Anathema, Apothecary, Epithet, Hypothesis, Parenthesis, Theme, Tick a cover.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Clandestine Marriage, Cryptogamia is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Botanic Garden. Part 2, Containing the Loves of the Plants. A Poem. With Philosophical Notes., Project Gutenberg ebook #10671; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Erasmus Darwin, Clandestine Marriage, Cryptogamia, in The Botanic Garden, Part II: The Loves of the Plants (1789), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10671, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/darwin-loves-of-plants/clandestine-marriage-cryptogamia.html, id L23538.
Form and metre
Clandestine Marriage, Cryptogamia is 9 lines in 3 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
See 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.
- 3 AA- theA · theA · linneus
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The Class of FOUR POWERS, is divided also into two Orders; in one of | 19 | ····/·˘/˘/˘···/˘··· |
| these the seeds are inclosed in a silicule, as in Shepherd's purse. | 16 | ········/˘˘··/˘· |
| No. xiv. Fig. 5. In the other they are inclosed in a silique, as in | 17 | ·····/˘······/˘·· |
| Wall-flower. Fig. 4. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And in the Class of CLANDESTINE MARRIAGE, the four Orders are termed | 16 | ·····˘/˘/˘··/˘·· |
| FERNS, MOSSES, FLAGS, and FUNGUSSES. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| To the SYSTEM OF VEGETABLES is prefixed a copious explanation of all the | 20 | ··/˘·/˘·/˘·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Terms used in Botany, translated from a thesis of Dr. ELMSGREEN, with the | 18 | ···/˘˘/˘··/˘······ |
| plates and references from the Philosophia Botannica of LINNEUS. | 17 | ··/˘············· |
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.