Time Cannot Destroy Her
But lastly, Time perhaps at last hath powerTo spend her liuely powers, and quench her light;But old god Saturne which doth all deuoure,Doth cherish her, and still augment her might.
Heauen waxeth old, and all the spheres aboueShall one day faint, and their swift motion stay;And Time it selfe in time shall cease to moue;Onely the Soule suruives, and liues for aye.
"Our Bodies, euery footstep that they make,"March towards death, vntill at last they die;"Whether we worke, or play, or sleepe, or wake,"Our life doth passe, and with Time's wings doth flie:
But to the Soule Time doth perfection giue,And ads fresh lustre to her beauty still;And makes her in eternall youth to liue,Like her which nectar to the gods doth fill.
The more she liues, the more she feeds on Truth;The more she feeds, her strength doth more increase:And what is strength, but an effect of youth?Which if Time nurse, how can it euer cease?
Words in this poem
- lastly adv.
- In the last place; in conclusion.
- 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,]
- passe a.
- Past; gone by; hence, past one's prime; worn; faded; as, a passée belle. Ld. Lytton. [F.]
- lustre n.
- A period of five years; a lustrum. [L. lustrum: cf. F. lustre.]
- eternall a.
- Without beginning or end of existence; always existing. [F. éternel, L. aeternalis, fr. aeternus. See Etern.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Time Cannot Destroy Her 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, Time Cannot Destroy Her, in The Complete Poems, Volume I (1596–1599), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #44977, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/davies-poems/time-cannot-destroy-her.html, id L08784.
Form and metre
Time Cannot Destroy Her is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABAB, in 2 of the 5 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 10% 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 -A-A power · lightA · deuoure · mightA
- 2 A-A- aboueA · stay · moueA · aye
- 3 A-A- makeA · die · wakeA · flie
- 4 ABAB giueA · stillB · liueA · fillB
- 5 ABAB truthA · increaseB · youthA · ceaseB
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 lastly, Time perhaps at last hath power | 11 | ·/˘·˘/···/˘ |
| To spend her liuely powers, and quench her light; | 10 | ·····/···· |
| But old god Saturne which doth all deuoure, | 9 | ········· |
| Doth cherish her, and still augment her might. | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| Heauen waxeth old, and all the spheres aboue | 10 | ·········· |
| Shall one day faint, and their swift motion stay; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And Time it selfe in time shall cease to moue; | 10 | ·········· |
| Onely the Soule suruives, and liues for aye. | 10 | /˘········ |
| "Our Bodies, euery footstep that they make, | 10 | //˘··/···· |
| "March towards death, vntill at last they die; | 9 | ········· |
| "Whether we worke, or play, or sleepe, or wake, | 10 | ·········· |
| "Our life doth passe, and with Time's wings doth flie: | 11 | /···/······ |
| But to the Soule Time doth perfection giue, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| And ads fresh lustre to her beauty still; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And makes her in eternall youth to liue, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Like her which nectar to the gods doth fill. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The more she liues, the more she feeds on Truth; | 10 | ·········· |
| The more she feeds, her strength doth more increase: | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And what is strength, but an effect of youth? | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Which if Time nurse, how can it euer cease? | 9 | ········· |
Notes from the edition 1
A. B. Grosart's notes to the Complete Poems of Sir John Davies (Project Gutenberg #44977).
- Stanza 4, line 4 Hebe. G.
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