The Petition
Fair, gracious, daughter of those skies,Wherein nor star, nor angel, fliesMore radiant than thy royal beauty:To thee the Hours bring all they haveOf rich, and wonderful, and brave:Yet do they but their natural duty.
Excelling all, thou cancellestTheir praise, and art alone the best:Alone the theme of prayers and praises.Wilt thou not bow thee, and be kind,As lilies to a pleading wind,When fragrance the wan air amazes?
The holy angels of God's courtWith humble men still deign consort:For dear love's piteous sake discardingTheir state and their celestial home,To company poor souls, that roamSad and distraught, for lack of guarding.
Fair, gracious, daughter of the spheres!Be not more proud than those thy peers,Citizens of so high a city!Behold the captive of thy chains:Turn from thy palace to his pains,And keep thy prisoner by pity.
Words in this poem
- deign v. t.
- To esteem worthy; to consider worth notice; -- opposed to disdain. [OE. deinen, deignen, OF. degner, deigner, daigner, F. daigner, fr. L. dignari to deem worthy, deign, fr. dignus worthy; akin to decere to be fitting. See Decent]
- distraught p. p.
- Torn asunder; separated. [OE. distract, distrauht. See Distract, a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Petition is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #66520; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Lionel Johnson, The Petition, in Poems (1895), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66520, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-lionel-poems/the-petition.html, id L12546.
Form and metre
The Petition is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABCCB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 AABCCB skiesA · fliesA · beautyB · haveC · braveC · dutyB
- 2 AABCCB cancellestA · bestA · praisesB · kindC · windC · amazesB
- 3 AABCCB courtA · consortA · discardingB · homeC · roamC · guardingB
- 4 AABCCB spheresA · peersA · cityB · chainsC · painsC · pityB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Fair, gracious, daughter of those skies, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Wherein nor star, nor angel, flies | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| More radiant than thy royal beauty: | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| To thee the Hours bring all they have | 8 | ···/···· |
| Of rich, and wonderful, and brave: | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Yet do they but their natural duty. | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Excelling all, thou cancellest | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| Their praise, and art alone the best: | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Alone the theme of prayers and praises. | 9 | ˘/·····/˘ |
| Wilt thou not bow thee, and be kind, | 8 | ········ |
| As lilies to a pleading wind, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| When fragrance the wan air amazes? | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| The holy angels of God's court | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| With humble men still deign consort: | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| For dear love's piteous sake discarding | 10 | ···/˘˘·˘/˘ |
| Their state and their celestial home, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| To company poor souls, that roam | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Sad and distraught, for lack of guarding. | 9 | ··˘/···/˘ |
| Fair, gracious, daughter of the spheres! | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Be not more proud than those thy peers, | 8 | ········ |
| Citizens of so high a city! | 9 | /˘˘····/˘ |
| Behold the captive of thy chains: | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| Turn from thy palace to his pains, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And keep thy prisoner by pity. | 9 | ···/˘˘·/˘ |
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.