Feeling
Lastly, the feeling power, which is Life's root,Through euery liuing part it selfe doth shed;By sinewes, which extend from head to foot,And like a net, all ore the body spred.
Much like a subtill spider, which doth sitIn middle of her web, which spreadeth wide;If ought doe touch the vtmost thred of it,Shee feeles it instantly on euery side.
By Touch, the first pure qualities we learne,Which quicken all things, hote, cold, moist and dry;By Touch, hard, soft, rough, smooth, we doe discerne;By Touch, sweet pleasure, and sharpe paine, we try.
These are the outward instruments of Sense,These are the guards which euery thing must passeEre it approch the mind's intelligence,Or touch the Fantasie, Wit's looking-glasse.
Words in this poem
- lastly adv.
- In the last place; in conclusion.
- ought p. p.
- Was or were under obligation to pay; owed. [Orig. the preterit of the verb to owe. OE. oughte, aughte, ahte, AS. ahte. sq. root110. See Owe.]
- hote v. t.
- To command; to enjoin. Piers Plowman.
- passe a.
- Past; gone by; hence, past one's prime; worn; faded; as, a passée belle. Ld. Lytton. [F.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Feeling is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poems of Sir John Davies. Volume 1 of 2., Project Gutenberg ebook #44977; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Davies, Feeling, in The Complete Poems, Volume I (1596–1599), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #44977, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/davies-poems/feeling.html, id L08756.
Form and metre
Feeling is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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.
- 2 ABAB sitA · wideB · itA · sideB
- 3 -A-A learne · dryA · discerne · tryA
- 4 A-A- senseA · passe · intelligenceA · glasse
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Lastly, the feeling power, which is Life's root, | 10 | /˘·/˘/···· |
| Through euery liuing part it selfe doth shed; | 10 | ·········· |
| By sinewes, which extend from head to foot, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| And like a net, all ore the body spred. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Much like a subtill spider, which doth sit | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| In middle of her web, which spreadeth wide; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| If ought doe touch the vtmost thred of it, | 10 | ·······˘·· |
| Shee feeles it instantly on euery side. | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| By Touch, the first pure qualities we learne, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Which quicken all things, hote, cold, moist and dry; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| By Touch, hard, soft, rough, smooth, we doe discerne; | 10 | ·········· |
| By Touch, sweet pleasure, and sharpe paine, we try. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| These are the outward instruments of Sense, | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| These are the guards which euery thing must passe | 11 | ··········/ |
| Ere it approch the mind's intelligence, | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| Or touch the Fantasie, Wit's looking-glasse. | 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.