Epitaph
Heere lies Deane Donne; Enough; Those words aloneShew him as fully, as if all the stoneHis Church of Pauls contains, were through inscrib'dOr all the walkers there, to speake him, brib'd.None can mistake him, for one such as HeeDONNE, Deane, or Man, more none shall ever see.Not man? No, though unto a Sunne each eyeWere turn'd, the whole earth so to overspie.A bold brave word; Yet such brave Spirits as knewHis Spirit, will say, it is lesse bold then true.
Words in this poem
- shew n.
- Show. [Obs. except in shewbread.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Epitaph 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, in Poems (1633), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #48688, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/donne-poems/epitaph.html, id L05029.
Form and metre
Epitaph is 10 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 80% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 60% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AABBCCC-DD aloneA · stoneA · inscrib'dB · brib'dB · heeC · seeC · eyeC · overspie · knewD · trueD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Heere lies Deane Donne; Enough; Those words alone | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
| Shew him as fully, as if all the stone | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| His Church of Pauls contains, were through inscrib'd | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
| Or all the walkers there, to speake him, brib'd. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| None can mistake him, for one such as Hee | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| DONNE, Deane, or Man, more none shall ever see. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Not man? No, though unto a Sunne each eye | 10 | ·········· |
| Were turn'd, the whole earth so to overspie. | 10 | ·········· |
| A bold brave word; Yet such brave Spirits as knew | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| His Spirit, will say, it is lesse bold then true. | 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.