Probably by the Earl of Pembroke
Soules joy, now I am gone,And you alone,(Which cannot be,Since I must leave my selfe with thee,And carry thee with me)Yet when unto our eyesAbsence denyesEach others sight,And makes to us a constant night,When others change to light;O give no way to griefe,But let beliefeOf mutuall love,This wonder to the vulgar proveOur Bodyes, not wee move.
Let not thy wit beweepeWounds but sense-deepe,For when we misseBy distance our lipp-joying blisse,Even then our soules shall kisse,Fooles have no meanes to meet,But by their feet.Why should our clay,Over our spirits so much sway,To tie us to that way?O give no way to griefe, &c.
Words in this poem
- mutuall a.
- Reciprocally acting or related; reciprocally receiving and giving; reciprocally given and received; reciprocal; interchanged; as, a mutual love, advantage, assistance, aversion, etc. [F. mutuel, L. mutuus, orig., exchanged, borrowed, lent; akin to mutare to change. See Mutable.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Probably by the Earl of Pembroke 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, Probably by the Earl of Pembroke, in Poems (1633), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #48688, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/donne-poems/probably-by-the-earl-of-pembroke.html, id L05046.
Form and metre
Probably by the Earl of Pembroke is 26 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 54% of the lines. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.0 syllables. 23% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 --AAABBCCCDDEEE gone · alone · beA · theeA · meA · eyesB · denyesB · sightC · nightC · lightC · griefeD · beliefeD · loveE · proveE · moveE
- 2 AABBBCCDDD- beweepeA · deepeA · misseB · blisseB · kisseB · meetC · feetC · clayD · swayD · wayD · —
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Soules joy, now I am gone, | 6 | ······ |
| And you alone, | 4 | ··˘/ |
| (Which cannot be, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Since I must leave my selfe with thee, | 8 | ········ |
| And carry thee with me) | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Yet when unto our eyes | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Absence denyes | 4 | /˘˘/ |
| Each others sight, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And makes to us a constant night, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When others change to light; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| O give no way to griefe, | 6 | ······ |
| But let beliefe | 4 | ···· |
| Of mutuall love, | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| This wonder to the vulgar prove | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Our Bodyes, not wee move. | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Let not thy wit beweepe | 6 | ······ |
| Wounds but sense-deepe, | 4 | ···· |
| For when we misse | 4 | ···· |
| By distance our lipp-joying blisse, | 9 | ·/˘/˘·/˘· |
| Even then our soules shall kisse, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Fooles have no meanes to meet, | 6 | ······ |
| But by their feet. | 4 | ···· |
| Why should our clay, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Over our spirits so much sway, | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| To tie us to that way? | 6 | ······ |
| O give no way to griefe, &c. | 7 | ······· |
Notes from the edition 2
Herbert Grierson's record of the readings of the early editions and manuscripts, from his Poems of John Donne (Oxford, 1912; Project Gutenberg #48688).
- Stanza 1, line 1 now] when 1660, L77
- Stanza 2, line 3 when] while L77
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