To Mr S. B
O Thou which to search out the secret partsOf the India, or rather ParadiseOf knowledge, hast with courage and adviseLately launch'd into the vast Sea of Arts,Disdaine not in thy constant travailingTo doe as other Voyagers, and makeSome turnes into lesse Creekes, and wisely takeFresh water at the Heliconian spring;I sing not, Siren like, to tempt; for IAm harsh; nor as those Scismatiques with you,Which draw all wits of good hope to their crew;But seeing in you bright sparkes of Poetry,I, though I brought no fuell, had desireWith these Articulate blasts to blow the fire.
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- heliconian a.
- Of or pertaining to Helicon. [L. Heliconius.]
- fuell v. t.
- To feed with fuel.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Mr S. B 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, To Mr S. B, in Poems (1633), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #48688, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/donne-poems/to-mr-s-b.html, id L04975.
Form and metre
To Mr S. B is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 57% 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 A--ABCCB-DD-EE partsA · paradise · advise · artsA · travailingB · makeC · takeC · springB · i · youD · crewD · poetry · desireE · fireE
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 Thou which to search out the secret parts | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Of the India, or rather Paradise | 10 | ··/˘·/˘/˘· |
| Of knowledge, hast with courage and advise | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Lately launch'd into the vast Sea of Arts, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Disdaine not in thy constant travailing | 10 | ·····/˘˘/˘ |
| To doe as other Voyagers, and make | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| Some turnes into lesse Creekes, and wisely take | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Fresh water at the Heliconian spring; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| I sing not, Siren like, to tempt; for I | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Am harsh; nor as those Scismatiques with you, | 10 | ·········· |
| Which draw all wits of good hope to their crew; | 10 | ·········· |
| But seeing in you bright sparkes of Poetry, | 11 | ·/˘·····/˘˘ |
| I, though I brought no fuell, had desire | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/˘ |
| With these Articulate blasts to blow the fire. | 11 | ··˘/˘·····/ |
Notes from the edition 3
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 10 harsh; 1650-69: harsh, 1633-39
- Line 12 seeing] seing 1633: seene TCD, W: seeme TCC
- Line 13 I, though] I thought 1650-54
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