Epitaph on Himselfe: To the Countesse of Bedford
That I might make your Cabinet my tombe,And for my fame which I love next my soule,Next to my soule provide the happiest roome,Admit to that place this last funerall Scrowle.Others by Wills give Legacies, but IDying, of you doe beg a Legacie.
My fortune and my will this custome breake,When we are senselesse grown to make stones speak,Though no stone tell thee what I was, yet thouIn my graves inside see what thou art now:Yet th'art not yet so good; till us death layTo ripe and mellow there, w'are stubborne clay,Parents make us earth, and soules dignifieVs to be glasse, here to grow gold we lie;Whilst in our soules sinne bred and pampered is,Our soules become worme-eaten Carkasses.
Words in this poem
- sinne adv.
- Old form of Since. [Obs. or Prov.Eng. & Scot.]
- pampered a.
- Fed luxuriously; indulged to the full; hence, luxuriant.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Epitaph on Himselfe: To the Countesse of Bedford is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of John Donne, Volume 1 (of 2) Edited from the Old Editions and Numerous Manuscripts, Project Gutenberg ebook #48688; 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 Donne, Epitaph on Himselfe: To the Countesse of Bedford, in Poems (1633), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #48688, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/donne-poems/epitaph-on-himselfe-to-the-countesse-of-bedford.html, id L04994.
Form and metre
Epitaph on Himselfe: To the Countesse of Bedford is 16 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%).
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-- tombe · souleA · roome · scrowleA · i · legacie
- 2 AABBCC---- breakeA · speakA · thouB · nowB · layC · clayC · dignifie · lie · is · carkasses
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 |
|---|---|---|
| That I might make your Cabinet my tombe, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| And for my fame which I love next my soule, | 10 | ·········· |
| Next to my soule provide the happiest roome, | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| Admit to that place this last funerall Scrowle. | 11 | ˘/·····/˘·· |
| Others by Wills give Legacies, but I | 10 | /˘···/˘˘·· |
| Dying, of you doe beg a Legacie. | 10 | /˘········ |
| My fortune and my will this custome breake, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| When we are senselesse grown to make stones speak, | 11 | ··········· |
| Though no stone tell thee what I was, yet thou | 10 | ·········· |
| In my graves inside see what thou art now: | 10 | ···˘/····· |
| Yet th'art not yet so good; till us death lay | 10 | ·········· |
| To ripe and mellow there, w'are stubborne clay, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Parents make us earth, and soules dignifie | 10 | /˘········ |
| Vs to be glasse, here to grow gold we lie; | 11 | /˘········· |
| Whilst in our soules sinne bred and pampered is, | 10 | ··/····/˘· |
| Our soules become worme-eaten Carkasses. | 10 | /·˘/·/˘··· |
Notes from the edition 3
Herbert Grierson's record of the readings of the early editions and manuscripts, from his Poems of John Donne (Oxford, 1912; Project Gutenberg #48688).
- Stanza 1, line 5 Others by Wills 1635-69: Others by testaments A25, C, O'F (altered to wills), S96: Men by testament B: Then by testament H40: O then by testament D, H49
- Stanza 2, line 4 now: 1650-69: now, 1635-39
- Stanza 2, line 6 there, 1635, 1669: thee, 1639-54
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