Epitaph on Salathiel Pavy, a Child of Queen Elizabeth’s Chapel
WEEP with me all you that readThis little story;And know for whom a tear you shed,Death’s self is sorry.’Twas a child that so did thriveIn grace and feature,As heaven and nature seemed to striveWhich owned the creature.Years he numbered scarce thirteenWhen fates turned cruel;Yet three filled zodiacs had he beenThe stage’s jewel;And did act, what now we moan,Old men so duly;As, sooth, the Parcæ thought him oneHe played so truly.So, by error to his fateThey all consented;But viewing him since, alas, too late!They have repented;And have sought to give new birth,In baths to steep him;But, being so much too good for earth,Heaven vows to keep him.
Words in this poem
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- sooth a.
- True; faithful; trustworthy. [OE. soth, AS. s, for san; akin to OS. s, OHG. sand, Icel. sannr, Sw. sann, Dan. sand, Skr. sat, sant, real, genuine, present, being; properly p. pr. from a root]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Epitaph on Salathiel Pavy, a Child of Queen Elizabeth’s Chapel is in the public domain. This text is taken from Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter and Some Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #5134; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ben Jonson, Epitaph on Salathiel Pavy, a Child of Queen Elizabeth’s Chapel, in Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter and Some Poems (1616), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5134, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/jonson-poems/epitaph-on-salathiel-pavy-a-child-of-queen-elizabeth-s-chape.html, id L23803.
Form and metre
Epitaph on Salathiel Pavy, a Child of Queen Elizabeth’s Chapel is 24 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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-BCBC-DED-FEFGHGHIJIJ readA · story · shedA · sorry · thriveB · featureC · striveB · creatureC · thirteen · cruelD · beenE · jewelD · moan · dulyF · oneE · trulyF · fateG · consentedH · lateG · repentedH · birthI · himJ · earthI · himJ
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| WEEP with me all you that read | 7 | ······· |
| This little story; | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| And know for whom a tear you shed, | 8 | ········ |
| Death’s self is sorry. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| ’Twas a child that so did thrive | 7 | ······· |
| In grace and feature, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| As heaven and nature seemed to strive | 9 | ·/˘·/˘··· |
| Which owned the creature. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Years he numbered scarce thirteen | 7 | ··/˘·// |
| When fates turned cruel; | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Yet three filled zodiacs had he been | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| The stage’s jewel; | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| And did act, what now we moan, | 7 | ······· |
| Old men so duly; | 5 | ···/˘ |
| As, sooth, the Parcæ thought him one | 7 | ······· |
| He played so truly. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| So, by error to his fate | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| They all consented; | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| But viewing him since, alas, too late! | 9 | ·/˘··˘/·· |
| They have repented; | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| And have sought to give new birth, | 7 | ······· |
| In baths to steep him; | 5 | ····· |
| But, being so much too good for earth, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Heaven vows to keep him. | 6 | /˘···· |
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.