In eundem Macaronicon
Quot, dos haec, +Linguists+ perfetti, Disticha fairont,Tot cuerdos +States-men+, hic livre fara tuus.Es sat a my l'honneur estre hic inteso; Car +I leave+L'honra, de personne nestre creduto, tibi.
Viri seraphici Joannis Donne Qua-dragenarij Effigies vera, Qui posteam ætatem Sacris initiatus Ec-clesiæ Sti Pauli Decanus obijt.
From the engraving prefixed to his son's edition of the Letters to
Words in this poem
- livre n.
- A French money of account, afterward a silver coin equal to 20 sous. It is not now in use, having been superseded by the franc. [F., fr. L. libra a pound of twelve ounces. Cf. Lira.]
- estre n.
- The inward part of a building; the interior. [OF. estre state, plan.]
- personne n.
- A character or part, as in a play; a specific kind or manifestation of individual character, whether in real life, or in literary or dramatic representation; an assumed character. [OE. persone, persoun, person, parson, OF. persone, F. personne, L. persona a mask (used by actors), a personage, part, a person, fr. personare to sound through;]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In eundem Macaronicon 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, In eundem Macaronicon, in Poems (1633), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #48688, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/donne-poems/in-eundem-macaronicon.html, id L19899.
Form and metre
In eundem Macaronicon is 9 lines in 3 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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.
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Quot, dos haec, +Linguists+ perfetti, Disticha fairont, | 13 | ···/˘˘/˘····· |
| Tot cuerdos +States-men+, hic livre fara tuus. | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| Es sat a my l'honneur estre hic inteso; Car +I leave+ | 15 | ······/˘······· |
| L'honra, de personne nestre creduto, tibi. | 12 | ···/˘/˘···/· |
| Viri seraphici Joannis Donne Qua- | 10 | ·········· |
| dragenarij Effigies vera, Qui post | 10 | ····/˘/˘·· |
| eam ætatem Sacris initiatus Ec- | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| clesiæ Sti Pauli Decanus obijt. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| From the engraving prefixed to his son's edition of the Letters to | 18 | ··˘/˘/˘···˘/˘··/˘· |
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.