That the Soule Is a Spirit
But though this substance be the root of Sense,Sense knowes her not, which doth but bodies know;Shee is a spirit, and heauenly influence,Which from the fountaine of God's Spirit doth flow.
Shee is a Spirit, yet not like ayre, or winde,Nor like the spirits about the heart or braine;Nor like those spirits which alchymists do find,When they in euery thing seeke gold in vaine.
For shee all natures vnder heauen doth passe;Being like those spirits, which God's bright face do see;Or like Himselfe, Whose image once she was,Though now (alas!) she scarce His shadow bee.
Yet of the formes, she holds the first degree,That are to grosse materiall bodies knit;Yet shee her selfe is bodilesse and free;And though confin'd, is almost infinite.
Words in this poem
- passe a.
- Past; gone by; hence, past one's prime; worn; faded; as, a passée belle. Ld. Lytton. [F.]
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- grosse n.
- A heavy silk with a dull finish; as, gros de Naples; gros de Tours. [F. See Gross.]
- materiall v. t.
- To form from matter; to materialize. Sir T. Browne.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
That the Soule Is a Spirit 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, That the Soule Is a Spirit, in The Complete Poems, Volume I (1596–1599), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #44977, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/davies-poems/that-the-soule-is-a-spirit.html, id L08739.
Form and metre
That the Soule Is a Spirit is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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 senseA · knowB · influenceA · flowB
- 2 ABAB windeA · braineB · findA · vaineB
- 3 -A-A passe · seeA · was · beeA
- 4 ABAB degreeA · knitB · freeA · infiniteB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| But though this substance be the root of Sense, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Sense knowes her not, which doth but bodies know; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Shee is a spirit, and heauenly influence, | 11 | ···/˘···/˘˘ |
| Which from the fountaine of God's Spirit doth flow. | 10 | ···˘/··/·· |
| Shee is a Spirit, yet not like ayre, or winde, | 10 | ···/······ |
| Nor like the spirits about the heart or braine; | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| Nor like those spirits which alchymists do find, | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| When they in euery thing seeke gold in vaine. | 10 | ·········· |
| For shee all natures vnder heauen doth passe; | 10 | ···/˘····/ |
| Being like those spirits, which God's bright face do see; | 11 | /··/˘······ |
| Or like Himselfe, Whose image once she was, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Though now (alas!) she scarce His shadow bee. | 10 | ··˘/···/·· |
| Yet of the formes, she holds the first degree, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| That are to grosse materiall bodies knit; | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| Yet shee her selfe is bodilesse and free; | 10 | ·········· |
| And though confin'd, is almost infinite. | 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.