The Trinity
O Blessed glorious Trinity,Bones to Philosophy, but milke to faith,Which, as wise serpents, diverslyMost slipperinesse, yet most entanglings hath,As you distinguish'd undistinctBy power, love, knowledge bee,Give mee a such selfe different instinctOf these; let all mee elemented bee,Of power, to love, to know, you unnumbred three.
Words in this poem
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Trinity 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 Trinity, in Poems (1633), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #48688, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/donne-poems/the-trinity.html, id L05013.
Form and metre
The Trinity is 9 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 77%). 80% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% 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 ----ABABB trinity · faith · diversly · hath · undistinctA · beeB · instinctA · beeB · threeB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O Blessed glorious Trinity, | 9 | ··˘/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Bones to Philosophy, but milke to faith, | 10 | ··˘/˘˘···· |
| Which, as wise serpents, diversly | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Most slipperinesse, yet most entanglings hath, | 11 | ·······˘/˘· |
| As you distinguish'd undistinct | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| By power, love, knowledge bee, | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| Give mee a such selfe different instinct | 10 | ·····/˘˘/˘ |
| Of these; let all mee elemented bee, | 10 | ·····/˘˘˘· |
| Of power, to love, to know, you unnumbred three. | 10 | ·/········ |
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.