Resurrection, imperfect
Sleep sleep old Sun, thou canst not have repastAs yet, the wound thou took'st on friday last;Sleepe then, and rest; The world may beare thy stay,A better Sun rose before thee to day,Who, not content to'enlighten all that dwellOn the earths face, as thou, enlightned hell,And made the darke fires languish in that vale,As, at thy presence here, our fires grow pale.Whose body having walk'd on earth, and nowHasting to Heaven, would, that he might allowHimselfe unto all stations, and fill all,For these three daies become a minerall;Hee was all gold when he lay downe, but roseAll tincture, and doth not alone disposeLeaden and iron wills to good, but isOf power to make even sinfull flesh like his.Had one of those, whose credulous pietieThought, that a Soule one might discerne and seeGoe from a body,'at this sepulcher been,And, issuing from the sheet, this body seen,He would have justly thought this body a soule,If not of any man, yet of the whole.Desunt cætera.
Words in this poem
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- languish v. i.
- To cause to dr Shak.
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- sinfull a.
- Tainted with, or full of, sin; wicked; iniquitous; criminal; unholy; as, sinful men; sinful thoughts. Piers Plowman. [AAS. synfull.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Resurrection, imperfect 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, Resurrection, imperfect, in Poems (1633), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #48688, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/donne-poems/resurrection-imperfect.html, id L19930.
Form and metre
Resurrection, imperfect is 23 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 61% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
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 AABBCCDDEE-DFFGG------- repastA · lastA · stayB · dayB · dwellC · hellC · valeD · paleD · nowE · allowE · all · minerallD · roseF · disposeF · isG · hisG · pietie · see · been · seen · soule · whole · cætera
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sleep sleep old Sun, thou canst not have repast | 10 | ········˘/ |
| As yet, the wound thou took'st on friday last; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Sleepe then, and rest; The world may beare thy stay, | 10 | ·········· |
| A better Sun rose before thee to day, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Who, not content to'enlighten all that dwell | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| On the earths face, as thou, enlightned hell, | 10 | ········˘· |
| And made the darke fires languish in that vale, | 10 | ····//˘··· |
| As, at thy presence here, our fires grow pale. | 10 | ···/˘·//·· |
| Whose body having walk'd on earth, and now | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Hasting to Heaven, would, that he might allow | 10 | /˘·/····˘/ |
| Himselfe unto all stations, and fill all, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| For these three daies become a minerall; | 10 | ····˘/·/˘˘ |
| Hee was all gold when he lay downe, but rose | 10 | ·········· |
| All tincture, and doth not alone dispose | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘/ |
| Leaden and iron wills to good, but is | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Of power to make even sinfull flesh like his. | 10 | ·/··//˘··· |
| Had one of those, whose credulous pietie | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Thought, that a Soule one might discerne and see | 10 | ·········· |
| Goe from a body,'at this sepulcher been, | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| And, issuing from the sheet, this body seen, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| He would have justly thought this body a soule, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘·· |
| If not of any man, yet of the whole. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Desunt cætera. | 5 | ····· |
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).
- Line 15 good, 1633-69 and MSS.: Chambers queries gold
- Line 22 If] If, 1633-69
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