Holy Sonnet XII
Why are wee by all creatures waited on?Why doe the prodigall elements supplyLife and food to mee, being more pure then I,Simple, and further from corruption?Why brook'st thou, ignorant horse, subjection?Why dost thou bull, and bore so seelilyDissemble weaknesse, and by'one mans stroke die,Whose whole kinde, you might swallow and feed upon?Weaker I am, woe is mee, and worse then you,You have not sinn'd, nor need be timorous.But wonder at a greater wonder, for to usCreated nature doth these things subdue,But their Creator, whom sin, nor nature tyed,For us, his Creatures, and his foes, hath dyed.
Words in this poem
- seelily adv.
- In a silly manner.
- dissemble v. t.
- To hide under a false semblance or seeming; to feign (something) not to be what it really is; to put an untrue appearance upon; to disguise; to mask. [OF. dissembler to be dissimilar; pref. dis- (L. dis-) + F. sembler to seem, L. simulare to simulate; cf. L. dissimulare to dissemble. See Simulate, and cf. Diss]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Holy Sonnet XII 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, Holy Sonnet XII, in Poems (1633), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #48688, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/donne-poems/holy-sonnet-xii.html, id L20853.
Form and metre
Holy Sonnet XII is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%).
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 ABBAA-BACDDCEE onA · supplyB · iB · corruptionA · subjectionA · seelily · dieB · uponA · youC · timorousD · usD · subdueC · tyedE · dyedE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Why are wee by all creatures waited on? | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Why doe the prodigall elements supply | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| Life and food to mee, being more pure then I, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Simple, and further from corruption? | 9 | /˘·/˘·˘/˘ |
| Why brook'st thou, ignorant horse, subjection? | 10 | ···/˘˘·˘/˘ |
| Why dost thou bull, and bore so seelily | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Dissemble weaknesse, and by'one mans stroke die, | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| Whose whole kinde, you might swallow and feed upon? | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| Weaker I am, woe is mee, and worse then you, | 11 | /˘········· |
| You have not sinn'd, nor need be timorous. | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| But wonder at a greater wonder, for to us | 12 | ·/˘··/˘/˘··· |
| Created nature doth these things subdue, | 10 | ˘/˘/˘···˘/ |
| But their Creator, whom sin, nor nature tyed, | 11 | ··˘/˘···/˘· |
| For us, his Creatures, and his foes, hath dyed. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
Notes from the edition 5
Herbert Grierson's record of the readings of the early editions and manuscripts, from his Poems of John Donne (Oxford, 1912; Project Gutenberg #48688).
- Line 1 are wee] ame I W
- Line 4 Simple, 1633, D, H49, W: Simpler 1635-69, A18, N, O'F, TC, Chambers
- Line 9 Weaker I am,] Alas I am weaker, W
- Line 10 timorous. W: timorous, 1633-69
- Line 11 a greater wonder, 1633, D, H49, N, O'F (greate), TC, W: a greater, 1635-69
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.