On an Atheist
Posthumus boasts he does not Thunder fear,And for this cause would Innocent appear;That in his Soul no Terrour he does feel,At threatn'd Vultures, or Ixion's Wheel,Which fright the Guilty: But when Fabius toldWhat Acts 'gainst Murder lately were enrol'd,'Gainst Incest, Rapine,----straight upon the TaleHis Colour chang'd, and Posthumus grew pale.His Impious Courage had no other Root,But that the Villaine, Atheist was to boot.
Words in this poem
- terrour n.
- Extreme fear; fear that agitates body and mind; violent dread; fright. [L. terror, akin to terrere to frighten, for tersere; akin to Gr. tras to tremble, to be afraid, Russ. triasti to shake: cf. F. terreur. Cf. Deter.]
- incest n.
- The crime of cohabitation or sexual commerce between persons related within the degrees wherein marriage is prohibited by law. [F. inceste, L. incestum unchastity, incest, fr. incestus unchaste; pref. in- not + castus chaste. See Chaste.]
- atheist n.
- One who disbelieves or denies the existence of a God, or supreme intelligent Being. [Gr. athéiste.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On an Atheist is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems (1686), Project Gutenberg ebook #41076; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Anne Killigrew, On an Atheist, in Poems (1686) (1686), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #41076, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/killigrew-poems/on-an-atheist.html, id L09195.
Form and metre
On an Atheist is 10 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 20% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AABBCCDDEE fearA · appearA · feelB · wheelB · toldC · enrol'dC · taleD · paleD · rootE · bootE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Posthumus boasts he does not Thunder fear, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And for this cause would Innocent appear; | 10 | ·····/˘˘˘/ |
| That in his Soul no Terrour he does feel, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| At threatn'd Vultures, or Ixion's Wheel, | 9 | ··/˘·˘/˘· |
| Which fright the Guilty: But when Fabius told | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| What Acts 'gainst Murder lately were enrol'd, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| 'Gainst Incest, Rapine,----straight upon the Tale | 10 | ·/·/˘····· |
| His Colour chang'd, and Posthumus grew pale. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| His Impious Courage had no other Root, | 11 | ·˘/˘/˘··/˘· |
| But that the Villaine, Atheist was to boot. | 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.