Incerti
In thy Impression of Donnes Poems rare,For his Eternitie thou hast ta'ne care:'Twas well, and pious; And for ever mayHe live: Yet shew I thee a better way;Print but his Sermons, and if those we buy,
To the Right HonourableWilliam Lord Craven Baron ofHamsted-Marsham.
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- shew n.
- Show. [Obs. except in shewbread.]
- craven v. t.
- To make recreant, weak, spiritless, or cowardly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Incerti 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, Incerti, in Poems (1633), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #48688, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/donne-poems/incerti.html, id L04875.
Form and metre
Incerti is 8 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.6 syllables. 38% 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 AABB- rareA · careA · mayB · wayB · buy
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In thy Impression of Donnes Poems rare, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| For his Eternitie thou hast ta'ne care: | 10 | ·········· |
| 'Twas well, and pious; And for ever may | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| He live: Yet shew I thee a better way; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Print but his Sermons, and if those we buy, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| To the Right Honourable | 7 | ······· |
| William Lord Craven Baron of | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| Hamsted-Marsham. | 4 | ···· |
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.