The Anniversarie
All Kings, and all their favorites,All glory of honors, beauties, wits,The Sun it selfe, which makes times, as they passe,Is elder by a yeare, now, then it wasWhen thou and I first one another saw:All other things, to their destruction draw,Only our love hath no decay;This, no to morrow hath, nor yesterday,Running it never runs from us away,But truly keepes his first, last, everlasting day.
Two graves must hide thine and my coarse,If one might, death were no divorce.Alas, as well as other Princes, wee,(Who Prince enough in one another bee,)Must leave at last in death, these eyes, and eares,Oft fed with true oathes, and with sweet salt teares;But soules where nothing dwells but love(All other thoughts being inmates) then shall proveThis, or a love increased there above,When bodies to their graves, soules from their graves remove.
And then wee shall be throughly blest,But wee no more, then all the rest;Here upon earth, we'are Kings, and none but weeCan be such Kings, nor of such subjects bee.Who is so safe as wee? where none can doeTreason to us, except one of us two.True and false feares let us refraine,Let us love nobly, and live, and adde againeYeares and yeares unto yeares, till we attaineTo write threescore: this is the second of our raigne.
Words in this poem
- passe a.
- Past; gone by; hence, past one's prime; worn; faded; as, a passée belle. Ld. Lytton. [F.]
- 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,]
- nobly adv.
- Of noble extraction; as, nobly born or descended.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Anniversarie 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, The Anniversarie, in Poems (1633), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #48688, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/donne-poems/the-anniversarie.html, id L19848.
Form and metre
The Anniversarie is 30 lines in 3 stanzas of 10 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 60% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.0 syllables. 11 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 24% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 AAB-CCBBBB favoritesA · witsA · passeB · was · sawC · drawC · decayB · yesterdayB · awayB · dayB
- 2 AABB--CDCD coarseA · divorceA · weeB · beeB · eares · teares · loveC · proveD · aboveC · removeD
- 3 AABB--CCC- blestA · restA · weeB · beeB · doe · two · refraineC · againeC · attaineC · raigne
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 |
|---|---|---|
| All Kings, and all their favorites, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| All glory of honors, beauties, wits, | 9 | ·/˘·/˘/˘· |
| The Sun it selfe, which makes times, as they passe, | 11 | ··········/ |
| Is elder by a yeare, now, then it was | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| When thou and I first one another saw: | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| All other things, to their destruction draw, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Only our love hath no decay; | 9 | /˘/˘···˘/ |
| This, no to morrow hath, nor yesterday, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Running it never runs from us away, | 10 | /˘·/˘···˘/ |
| But truly keepes his first, last, everlasting day. | 12 | ·/˘·····˘/˘· |
| Two graves must hide thine and my coarse, | 8 | ········ |
| If one might, death were no divorce. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Alas, as well as other Princes, wee, | 10 | ˘/···/˘/˘· |
| (Who Prince enough in one another bee,) | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘· |
| Must leave at last in death, these eyes, and eares, | 10 | ·········· |
| Oft fed with true oathes, and with sweet salt teares; | 10 | ·········· |
| But soules where nothing dwells but love | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| (All other thoughts being inmates) then shall prove | 10 | ·/˘·//···· |
| This, or a love increased there above, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| When bodies to their graves, soules from their graves remove. | 12 | ·/˘·······˘/ |
| And then wee shall be throughly blest, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But wee no more, then all the rest; | 8 | ········ |
| Here upon earth, we'are Kings, and none but wee | 10 | ·········· |
| Can be such Kings, nor of such subjects bee. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Who is so safe as wee? where none can doe | 10 | ·········· |
| Treason to us, except one of us two. | 10 | /˘········ |
| True and false feares let us refraine, | 8 | ········ |
| Let us love nobly, and live, and adde againe | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| Yeares and yeares unto yeares, till we attaine | 10 | ·········· |
| To write threescore: this is the second of our raigne. | 12 | ··/˘···/˘·/· |
Notes from the edition 8
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 3 times, as they passe, 1633, 1669 (which brackets which ... pass), MSS.: times, as these pass, 1635-54: time, as they pass, Chambers, who attributes to 1633, 1669
- Stanza 2, line 2 divorce. Ed: divorce, 1633-69
- Stanza 2, line 7 love Ed: love; 1633-69
- Stanza 2, line 10 to their graves] to their grave 1635-39
- Stanza 3, line 3 none om. 1669, D, H40, H49, JC, Lec, S, S96
- Stanza 3, line 5 None are such Kings, 1669, D, H40, H49, JC, Lec, S, S96
- Stanza 3, line 7 refraine,] refraine. 1669
- Stanza 3, line 10 threescore: Grolier: threescore, 1633-69
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