La Corona
Deigne at my hands this crown of prayer and praise,Weav'd in my low devout melancholie,Thou which of good, hast, yea art treasury,All changing unchang'd Antient of dayes;But doe not, with a vile crowne of fraile bayes,Reward my muses white sincerity,But what thy thorny crowne gain'd, that give mee,A crowne of Glory, which doth flower alwayes;The ends crowne our workes, but thou crown'st our ends,For, at our end begins our endlesse rest;The first last end, now zealously possest,With a strong sober thirst, my soule attends.'Tis time that heart and voice be lifted high,Salvation to all that will is nigh.
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
La Corona 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, La Corona, in Poems (1633), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #48688, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/donne-poems/la-corona.html, id L04999.
Form and metre
La Corona is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 83% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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--AA--ABCCBDD praiseA · melancholie · treasury · dayesA · bayesA · sincerity · mee · alwayesA · endsB · restC · possestC · attendsB · highD · nighD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Deigne at my hands this crown of prayer and praise, | 10 | ·········· |
| Weav'd in my low devout melancholie, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Thou which of good, hast, yea art treasury, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| All changing unchang'd Antient of dayes; | 9 | ·/˘˘/···· |
| But doe not, with a vile crowne of fraile bayes, | 11 | ··········· |
| Reward my muses white sincerity, | 10 | ˘/·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| But what thy thorny crowne gain'd, that give mee, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| A crowne of Glory, which doth flower alwayes; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The ends crowne our workes, but thou crown'st our ends, | 10 | ···/····/· |
| For, at our end begins our endlesse rest; | 10 | ··/·˘//··· |
| The first last end, now zealously possest, | 10 | ·····/˘˘/˘ |
| With a strong sober thirst, my soule attends. | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| 'Tis time that heart and voice be lifted high, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Salvation to all that will is nigh. | 9 | ˘/˘······ |
Notes from the edition 7
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 2 low 1633, A18, D, H49, N, TC, W (spelt lowe in MSS.): lone 1635-69, B, O'F, S: loves S96
- Line 3 treasury, 1633-69: a Treasurie, B, O'F, S, S96
- Line 4 dayes; Ed: dayes, 1633-69
- Line 10 For] So W end 1633, A18, B, D, H49, N, O'F, TC, W: ends 1635-69, S96
- Line 11 The] This B, S, S96, W
- Line 13 heart and voice] voice and heart B, O'F, S, S96, W
- Line 14 nigh.] nigh, 1633
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