Sight
First, the two eyes that haue the seeing power,Stand as one watchman, spy, or sentinell;Being plac'd aloft, within the head's high tower;And though both see, yet both but one thing tell.
These mirrors take into their little spaceThe formes of moone and sun, and euery starre;Of euery body and of euery place,Which with the World's wide armes embracèd are:
Yet their best obiect, and their noblest vse,Hereafter in another World will be;When God in them shall heauenly light infuse,That face to face they may their Maker see.
Here are they guides, which doe the body lead,Which else would stumble in eternal night;Here in this world they do much knowledge read,And are the casements which admit most light:
They are her farthest reaching instrument,Yet they no beames vnto their obiects send;But all the rays are from their obiects sent,And in the eyes with pointed angles end:
If th' obiects be farre off, the rayes doe meetIn a sharpe point, and so things seeme but small;If they be neere, their rayes doe spread and fleet,And make broad points, that things seeme great withall.
Lastly, nine things to Sight requirèd are;The power to see, the light, the visible thing,Being not too small, too thin, too nigh, too farre,Cleare space, and time, the forme distinct to bring.
Thus we see how the Soule doth vse the eyes,As instruments of her quicke power of sight;Hence do th' Arts opticke and faire painting rise:Painting, which doth all gentle minds delight.
Words in this poem
- watchman n.
- One set to watch; a person who keeps guard; a guard; a sentinel.
- sentinell n.
- One who watches or guards; specifically (Mil.), a soldier set to guard an army, camp, or other place, from surprise, to observe the approach of danger, and give notice of it; a sentry. [F. sentinelle (cf. It. sentinella); probably originally, a litle path, the sentinel's beat,, and a dim. of a word meaning, path; cf. F. sente path. L. semita; a]
- starre n.
- One of the innumerable luminous bodies seen in the heavens; any heavenly body other than the sun, moon, comets, and nebulæ. [OE. sterre, AS. steorra; akin to OFries. stera, OS. sterro, D. ster, OHG. sterno, sterro, G. stern, Icel. stjarna, Sw. stjerna, Dan. stierne, Goth. staírno, Arm]
- hereafter adv.
- In time to come; in some future time or state. [AS. hræfter.]
- 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,]
- farre n.
- A young pig, or a litter of pigs. [See Farrow.]
- withall adv.
- With this; with that. [With + all.]
- lastly adv.
- In the last place; in conclusion.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sight 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, Sight, in The Complete Poems, Volume I (1596–1599), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #44977, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/davies-poems/sight.html, id L08752.
Form and metre
Sight is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 7 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 4 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 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 ABAB powerA · sentinellB · towerA · tellB
- 2 ABAB spaceA · starreB · placeA · areB
- 3 -A-A vse · beA · infuse · seeA
- 4 ABAB leadA · nightB · readA · lightB
- 5 ABAB instrumentA · sendB · sentA · endB
- 6 ABAB meetA · smallB · fleetA · withallB
- 7 ABAB areA · thingB · farreA · bringB
- 8 ABAB eyesA · sightB · riseA · delightB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| First, the two eyes that haue the seeing power, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Stand as one watchman, spy, or sentinell; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| Being plac'd aloft, within the head's high tower; | 11 | /·˘/·····/˘ |
| And though both see, yet both but one thing tell. | 10 | ·········· |
| These mirrors take into their little space | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| The formes of moone and sun, and euery starre; | 10 | ·········· |
| Of euery body and of euery place, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Which with the World's wide armes embracèd are: | 9 | ········· |
| Yet their best obiect, and their noblest vse, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Hereafter in another World will be; | 10 | ˘/˘·˘/˘··· |
| When God in them shall heauenly light infuse, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| That face to face they may their Maker see. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Here are they guides, which doe the body lead, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Which else would stumble in eternal night; | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Here in this world they do much knowledge read, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And are the casements which admit most light: | 11 | ·······˘/·· |
| They are her farthest reaching instrument, | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Yet they no beames vnto their obiects send; | 10 | ·········· |
| But all the rays are from their obiects sent, | 10 | ·········· |
| And in the eyes with pointed angles end: | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| If th' obiects be farre off, the rayes doe meet | 10 | ·········· |
| In a sharpe point, and so things seeme but small; | 10 | ·········· |
| If they be neere, their rayes doe spread and fleet, | 10 | ·········· |
| And make broad points, that things seeme great withall. | 10 | ·········· |
| Lastly, nine things to Sight requirèd are; | 9 | /˘······· |
| The power to see, the light, the visible thing, | 10 | ·/·····/˘· |
| Being not too small, too thin, too nigh, too farre, | 10 | /········· |
| Cleare space, and time, the forme distinct to bring. | 11 | ·····/˘˘/·· |
| Thus we see how the Soule doth vse the eyes, | 10 | ·········· |
| As instruments of her quicke power of sight; | 10 | ·/˘˘···/·· |
| Hence do th' Arts opticke and faire painting rise: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Painting, which doth all gentle minds delight. | 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.