Nativitie
Immensitie cloysterd in thy deare wombe,Now leaves his welbelov'd imprisonment,There he hath made himselfe to his intentWeake enough, now into our world to come;But Oh, for thee, for him, hath th'Inne no roome?Yet lay him in this stall, and from the Orient,Starres, and wisemen will travell to preventTh'effect of Herods jealous generall doome.Seest thou, my Soule, with thy faiths eyes, how heWhich fils all place, yet none holds him, doth lye?Was not his pity towards thee wondrous high,That would have need to be pittied by thee?Kisse him, and with him into Egypt goe,With his kinde mother, who partakes thy woe.
Words in this poem
- deare
- variant of Dere, v. t. & n.
- travell v. i.
- To labor; to travail. Hooker. [Properly, to labor, and the same word as travail.]
- generall a.
- Relating to a genus or kind; pertaining to a whole class or order; as, a general law of animal or vegetable economy. [F. général, fr. L. generalis. See Genus.]
- fils n.
- Son; -- sometimes used after a French proper name to distinguish a son from his father, as, Alexandre Dumas, fils.
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Nativitie 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, Nativitie, in Poems (1633), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #48688, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/donne-poems/nativitie.html, id L05001.
Form and metre
Nativitie is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 21% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 -AA-BAABCDDCEE wombe · imprisonmentA · intentA · come · roomeB · orientA · preventA · doomeB · heC · lyeD · highD · theeC · goeE · woeE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Immensitie cloysterd in thy deare wombe, | 10 | ·········· |
| Now leaves his welbelov'd imprisonment, | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| There he hath made himselfe to his intent | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Weake enough, now into our world to come; | 10 | ·˘/···/··· |
| But Oh, for thee, for him, hath th'Inne no roome? | 10 | ·········· |
| Yet lay him in this stall, and from the Orient, | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| Starres, and wisemen will travell to prevent | 11 | ······/˘·˘/ |
| Th'effect of Herods jealous generall doome. | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| Seest thou, my Soule, with thy faiths eyes, how he | 10 | ·········· |
| Which fils all place, yet none holds him, doth lye? | 10 | ·········· |
| Was not his pity towards thee wondrous high, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| That would have need to be pittied by thee? | 9 | ········· |
| Kisse him, and with him into Egypt goe, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| With his kinde mother, who partakes thy woe. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
Notes from the edition 4
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 6 this] his 1669
- Line 7 will] shall B, O'F, S, S96, W
- Line 8 effect 1669, A18, B, N, O'F, S, S96, TC, W: effects 1633-54, D, H49 jealous] dire and B, O'F, S, S96, W: zealous A18, N, TC
- Line 9 eyes, 1633, B, D, H49, O'F, S, S96, W: eye, 1635-69, A18, N, TC
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.