On Death
Tell me thou safest End of all our Woe,Why wreched Mortals do avoid thee so:Thou gentle drier o'th' afflicteds Tears,Thou noble ender of the Cowards Fears;Thou sweet Repose to Lovers sad dispaire,Thou Calm t'Ambitions rough Tempestuous Care.If in regard of Bliss thou wert a Curse,And then the Joys of Paradise art worse;Yet after Man from his first Station fell,And God from Eden Adam did expel,Thou wert no more an Evil, but Relief;The Balm and Cure to ev'ry Humane Grief:Through thee (what Man had forfeited before)He now enjoys, and ne'r can loose it more.No subtile Serpents in the Grave betray,Worms on the Body there, not Soul do prey;No Vice there Tempts, no Terrors there afright,No Coz'ning Sin affords a false delight:No vain Contentions do that Peace annoy,No feirce Alarms break the lasting Joy.
Ah since from thee so many Blessings flow,Such real Good as Life can never know;Come when thou wilt, in thy afrighting'st Dress,Thy Shape shall never make thy Welcome less.Thou mayst to Joy, but ne'er to fear give Birth,Thou Best, as well as Certain'st thing on Earth.Fly thee? May Travellers then fly their Rest,And hungry Infants fly the profer'd Brest.No, those that faint and tremble at thy Name,Fly from their Good on a mistaken Fame.Thus Childish fear did Israel of oldFrom Plenty and the Promis'd Land with-hold;They fancy'd Giants, and refus'd to go,When Canaan did with Milk and Honey flow.
Words in this poem
- avoid v. t.
- To empty. Wyclif. [OF. esvuidier, es (L. ex) + vuidier, voidier, to empty. See Void, a.]
- drier n.
- One who, or that which, dries; that which may expel or absorb moisture; a desiccative; as, the sun and a northwesterly wind are great driers of the earth.
- ender n.
- One who, or that which, makes an end of something; as, the ender of my life.
- eden n.
- The garden where Adam and Eve first dwelt; hence, a delightful region or residence. [Heb. eden delight, pleasure; also, a place of pleasure, Eden.]
- humane a.
- Pertaining to man; human. Jer. Taylor. [L. humanus: cf. F. humain. See Human.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On Death 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 Death, in Poems (1686) (1686), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #41076, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/killigrew-poems/on-death.html, id L09192.
Form and metre
On Death is 34 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables.
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ woeA · soA · tearsB · fearsB · dispaireC · careC · curseD · worseD · fellE · expelE · reliefF · griefF · beforeG · moreG · betrayH · preyH · afrightI · delightI · annoyJ · joyJ
- 2 AABBCCDDEEFFAA flowA · knowA · dressB · lessB · birthC · earthC · restD · brestD · nameE · fameE · oldF · holdF · goA · flowA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Tell me thou safest End of all our Woe, | 10 | ···/˘···/· |
| Why wreched Mortals do avoid thee so: | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/·· |
| Thou gentle drier o'th' afflicteds Tears, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Thou noble ender of the Cowards Fears; | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Thou sweet Repose to Lovers sad dispaire, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Thou Calm t'Ambitions rough Tempestuous Care. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| If in regard of Bliss thou wert a Curse, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| And then the Joys of Paradise art worse; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Yet after Man from his first Station fell, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And God from Eden Adam did expel, | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Thou wert no more an Evil, but Relief; | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| The Balm and Cure to ev'ry Humane Grief: | 10 | ·······˘/· |
| Through thee (what Man had forfeited before) | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| He now enjoys, and ne'r can loose it more. | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| No subtile Serpents in the Grave betray, | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| Worms on the Body there, not Soul do prey; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| No Vice there Tempts, no Terrors there afright, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| No Coz'ning Sin affords a false delight: | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
| No vain Contentions do that Peace annoy, | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| No feirce Alarms break the lasting Joy. | 9 | ··˘/··/˘· |
| Ah since from thee so many Blessings flow, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Such real Good as Life can never know; | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Come when thou wilt, in thy afrighting'st Dress, | 10 | ·········· |
| Thy Shape shall never make thy Welcome less. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Thou mayst to Joy, but ne'er to fear give Birth, | 10 | ·········· |
| Thou Best, as well as Certain'st thing on Earth. | 10 | ·········· |
| Fly thee? May Travellers then fly their Rest, | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| And hungry Infants fly the profer'd Brest. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| No, those that faint and tremble at thy Name, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Fly from their Good on a mistaken Fame. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Thus Childish fear did Israel of old | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| From Plenty and the Promis'd Land with-hold; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| They fancy'd Giants, and refus'd to go, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| When Canaan did with Milk and Honey flow. | 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.