Of the Innumerable Vertues of Her Minde
$E$ re thou proceed in this sweet paines,$L$ earne Muse how many drops it raines$I$ n cold and moist December;$S$ um up May flowres, and August graines,$A$ nd grapes of mild September.
$B$ eare the Sea's sand in memory,$E$ arth's grasses, and the starres in skie;$T$ he little moates which mounted,$H$ ang, in the beames of Phoebus' eye,$A$ nd neuer can be counted.
$R$ ecount these numbers numberlesse,$E$ re thou her vertue canst expresse,$G$ reat wits this count will, cumber.$I$ nstruct thy selfe in numbring Schooles;$N$ ow courtiers vse to begge for fooles,$A$ ll such as cannot number.
Words in this poem
- cumber n.
- Trouble; embarrassment; distress. [Cf. encombre hindrance, impediment. See Cuber,v.]
- begge n.
- A title of honor in Turkey and in some other parts of the East; a bey. [Turk. beg, pronounced bay. Cf. Bey, Begum.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Of the Innumerable Vertues of Her Minde 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, Of the Innumerable Vertues of Her Minde, in The Complete Poems, Volume I (1596–1599), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #44977, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/davies-poems/of-the-innumerable-vertues-of-her-minde.html, id L08815.
Form and metre
Of the Innumerable Vertues of Her Minde is 16 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.9 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 6% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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 AABAB painesA · rainesA · decemberB · grainesA · septemberB
- 2 --A-A memory · skie · mountedA · eye · countedA
- 3 AABCCB numberlesseA · expresseA · cumberB · schoolesC · foolesC · numberB
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 trochaic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| $E$ re thou proceed in this sweet paines, | 9 | ···˘/···· |
| $L$ earne Muse how many drops it raines | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| $I$ n cold and moist December; | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| $S$ um up May flowres, and August graines, | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| $A$ nd grapes of mild September. | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| $B$ eare the Sea's sand in memory, | 9 | ······/˘˘ |
| $E$ arth's grasses, and the starres in skie; | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| $T$ he little moates which mounted, | 9 | ··/˘/··/˘ |
| $H$ ang, in the beames of Phoebus' eye, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| $A$ nd neuer can be counted. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| $R$ ecount these numbers numberlesse, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| $E$ re thou her vertue canst expresse, | 8 | ········ |
| $G$ reat wits this count will, cumber. | 10 | ········/˘ |
| $I$ nstruct thy selfe in numbring Schooles; | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| $N$ ow courtiers vse to begge for fooles, | 10 | ··/˘˘····· |
| $A$ ll such as cannot number. | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
Notes from the edition 1
A. B. Grosart's notes to the Complete Poems of Sir John Davies (Project Gutenberg #44977).
- Stanza 3, line 1 Cf. Paradise Regained, iii. 310. G.
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