Witchcraft by a picture
I fixe mine eye on thine, and therePitty my picture burning in thine eye,My picture drown'd in a transparent teare,When I looke lower I espie;Hadst thou the wicked skillBy pictures made and mard, to kill,How many wayes mightst thou performe thy will?
But now I have drunke thy sweet salt teares,And though thou poure more I'll depart;My picture vanish'd, vanish feares,That I can be endamag'd by that art;Though thou retaine of meeOne picture more, yet that will bee,Being in thine owne heart, from all malice free.
Words in this poem
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Witchcraft by a picture 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, Witchcraft by a picture, in Poems (1633), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #48688, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/donne-poems/witchcraft-by-a-picture.html, id L19861.
Form and metre
Witchcraft by a picture is 14 lines in 2 stanzas of 7 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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-A-BBB thereA · eye · teareA · espie · skillB · killB · willB
- 2 -A-ABBB teares · departA · feares · artA · meeB · beeB · freeB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I fixe mine eye on thine, and there | 8 | ········ |
| Pitty my picture burning in thine eye, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| My picture drown'd in a transparent teare, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| When I looke lower I espie; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Hadst thou the wicked skill | 6 | ···/˘· |
| By pictures made and mard, to kill, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| How many wayes mightst thou performe thy will? | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| But now I have drunke thy sweet salt teares, | 9 | ········· |
| And though thou poure more I'll depart; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| My picture vanish'd, vanish feares, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| That I can be endamag'd by that art; | 10 | ·········· |
| Though thou retaine of mee | 6 | ······ |
| One picture more, yet that will bee, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Being in thine owne heart, from all malice free. | 10 | /······/˘· |
Notes from the edition 6
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 4 espie; Ed: espie, 1633-69
- Stanza 1, line 6 to kill, Ed: to kill? 1633-39: to kill; 1650-69
- Stanza 2, line 2 And though] Although 1669 And though thou therefore poure more will depart; B, H40
- Stanza 2, line 3 vanish'd, vanish feares, 1633, A18, B, Cy, H40, JC, N, P, S96, TC: vanished, vanish all feares 1635-54, O'F: vanish, vanish fears, 1669
- Stanza 2, line 4 that] thy JC, O'F, S96
- Stanza 2, line 7 all] thy B, H40, S96
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.