Resvrrection
Moyst with one drop of thy blood, my dry souleShall (though she now be in extreme degreeToo stony hard, and yet too fleshly,) beeFreed by that drop, from being starv'd, hard, or foule,And life, by this death abled, shall controuleDeath, whom thy death slue; nor shall to meeFeare of first or last death, bring miserie,If in thy little booke my name thou enroule,Flesh in that long sleep is not putrified,But made that there, of which, and for which 'twas;Nor can by other meanes be glorified.May then sinnes sleep, and deaths soone from me passe,That wak't from both, I againe risen maySalute the last, and everlasting day.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- slue n.
- A slough; a run or wet place. See 2d Slough, 2.
- passe a.
- Past; gone by; hence, past one's prime; worn; faded; as, a passée belle. Ld. Lytton. [F.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Resvrrection 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, Resvrrection, in Poems (1633), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #48688, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/donne-poems/resvrrection.html, id L05004.
Form and metre
Resvrrection is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 43% 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 ABBAAB-AC-CDDD souleA · degreeB · beeB · fouleA · controuleA · meeB · miserie · enrouleA · putrifiedC · twas · glorifiedC · passeD · mayD · dayD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Moyst with one drop of thy blood, my dry soule | 10 | ·········· |
| Shall (though she now be in extreme degree | 10 | ······˘/˘/ |
| Too stony hard, and yet too fleshly,) bee | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Freed by that drop, from being starv'd, hard, or foule, | 11 | ·····/···/˘ |
| And life, by this death abled, shall controule | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| Death, whom thy death slue; nor shall to mee | 9 | ········· |
| Feare of first or last death, bring miserie, | 10 | ·········· |
| If in thy little booke my name thou enroule, | 12 | ···/˘······· |
| Flesh in that long sleep is not putrified, | 9 | ········· |
| But made that there, of which, and for which 'twas; | 10 | ·········· |
| Nor can by other meanes be glorified. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| May then sinnes sleep, and deaths soone from me passe, | 11 | ··········/ |
| That wak't from both, I againe risen may | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Salute the last, and everlasting day. | 10 | ˘/····˘/˘· |
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 1 soule 1635: soule, 1633, 1639-69
- Line 5 this] thy B, O'F, S, S96, W
- Line 6 shall to] shall nowe to A18, N, O'F, TC
- Line 8 little 1633, A18, D, H49, TC: life 1635-69, B, O'F, S, S96, W
- Line 9 that long] that last long O'F, S, S96, W: that D, H49
- Line 11 glorified] purified S, S96, W, and O'F (which corrects to glorified)
- Line 12 deaths A18, N, S96, TC, W: death 1633-69, D, H49
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.