The Snayl
Wise emblem of our politick world,Sage Snayl, within thine own self curl'd,Instruct me softly to make hast,Whilst these my feet go slowly fast.
Compendious Snayl! thou seem'st to meLarge Euclid's strict epitome;And in each diagram dost flingThee from the point unto the ring.A figure now trianglare,An oval now, and now a square,And then a serpentine, dost crawl,Now a straight line, now crook'd, now all.
Preventing rival of the day,Th' art up and openest thy ray;And ere the morn cradles the moon,Th' art broke into a beauteous noon.Then, when the Sun sups in the deep,Thy silver horns e're Cinthia's peep;And thou, from thine own liquid bed,New Phoebus, heav'st thy pleasant head.
Who shall a name for thee create,Deep riddle of mysterious state?Bold Nature, that gives common birthTo all products of seas and earth,Of thee, as earth-quakes, is afraid,Nor will thy dire deliv'ry aid.
Thou, thine own daughter, then, and sire,That son and mother art intire,That big still with thy self dost go,And liv'st an aged embrio;That like the cubbs of India,Thou from thy self a while dost play;But frighted with a dog or gun,In thine own belly thou dost run,And as thy house was thine own womb,So thine own womb concludes thy tomb.
But now I must (analys'd king)Thy oeconomick virtues sing;Thou great stay'd husband still within,Thou thee that's thine dost discipline;And when thou art to progress bent,Thou mov'st thy self and tenement,As warlike Scythians travayl'd, youRemove your men and city too;Then, after a sad dearth and rain,Thou scatterest thy silver train;And when the trees grow nak'd and old,Thou cloathest them with cloth of gold,Which from thy bowels thou dost spin,And draw from the rich mines within.
Now hast thou chang'd thee, saint, and madeThy self a fane that's cupula'd;And in thy wreathed cloister thouWalkest thine own gray fryer too;Strickt and lock'd up, th'art hood all ore,And ne'r eliminat'st thy dore.On sallads thou dost feed severe,And 'stead of beads thou drop'st a tear,And when to rest each calls the bell,Thou sleep'st within thy marble cell,Where, in dark contemplation plac'd,The sweets of Nature thou dost tast,Who now with time thy days resolve,And in a jelly thee dissolve,Like a shot star, which doth repairUpward, and rarifie the air.
Words in this poem
- instruct a.
- Arranged; furnished; provided. [L. instructus, p. p. of instruere to furnish, provide, construct, instruct; pref. in- in, struere. See Structure.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- crawl v. i.
- To move slowly by drawing the body along the ground, as a worm; to move slowly on hands and kness; to creep. [Dan. kravle, or Icel. krafla, to paw, scrabble with the hands; akin to Sw. kr to crawl; cf. LG. krabbeln, D. krabbelen to scratch.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
- phoebus n.
- Apollo; the sun god.
- 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,]
- dire a.
- Ill-boding; portentous; as, dire omens. [L. dirus; of uncertain origin.]
- sire n.
- A lord, master, or other person in authority. See Sir. [F. sire, originally, an older person. See Sir.]
- womb n.
- The belly; the abdomen. [OE. wombe, wambe, AS. wamb, womb; akin to D. wam belly, OS. & OHG. wamba, G. wamme, wampe, Icel. vömb, Sw. v&mb, Dan. vom, Goth. wamba.]
- dearth n.
- Scarcity which renders dear; want; lack; specifically, lack of food on account of failure of crops; famine. [OE. derthe, fr. dere. See Dear.]
- fane n.
- A temple; a place consecrated to religion; a church. [L. fanum a place dedicated to some deity, a sanctuary, fr. fari to speak. See Fame.]
- dore v. t.
- One who does; one performs or executes; one who is wont and ready to act; an actor; an agent. [From Do, v. t. & i.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Snayl is in the public domain. This text is taken from Lucasta, Project Gutenberg ebook #703; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Richard Lovelace, The Snayl, in Lucasta (1649), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #703, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lovelace-lucasta/the-snayl.html, id L13059.
Form and metre
The Snayl is 66 lines in 7 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 82% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 11% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AABB worldA · curl'dA · hastB · fastB
- 2 --AABBCC me · epitome · flingA · ringA · trianglareB · squareB · crawlC · allC
- 3 AABBCCDD dayA · rayA · moonB · noonB · deepC · peepC · bedD · headD
- 4 AABBCC createA · stateA · birthB · earthB · afraidC · aidC
- 5 ------AABB sire · intire · go · embrio · india · play · gunA · runA · wombB · tombB
- 6 AABBCCDDEEFFBB kingA · singA · withinB · disciplineB · bentC · tenementC · youD · tooD · rainE · trainE · oldF · goldF · spinB · withinB
- 7 ----AABBCCDDEEFF made · cupula'd · thou · too · oreA · doreA · severeB · tearB · bellC · cellC · plac'dD · tastD · resolveE · dissolveE · repairF · airF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Wise emblem of our politick world, | 9 | ·/˘·/···· |
| Sage Snayl, within thine own self curl'd, | 8 | ········ |
| Instruct me softly to make hast, | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| Whilst these my feet go slowly fast. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Compendious Snayl! thou seem'st to me | 9 | ˘/˘˘····· |
| Large Euclid's strict epitome; | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| And in each diagram dost fling | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Thee from the point unto the ring. | 8 | ········ |
| A figure now trianglare, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| An oval now, and now a square, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And then a serpentine, dost crawl, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Now a straight line, now crook'd, now all. | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Preventing rival of the day, | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| Th' art up and openest thy ray; | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| And ere the morn cradles the moon, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Th' art broke into a beauteous noon. | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| Then, when the Sun sups in the deep, | 8 | ········ |
| Thy silver horns e're Cinthia's peep; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And thou, from thine own liquid bed, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| New Phoebus, heav'st thy pleasant head. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Who shall a name for thee create, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Deep riddle of mysterious state? | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Bold Nature, that gives common birth | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To all products of seas and earth, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Of thee, as earth-quakes, is afraid, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Nor will thy dire deliv'ry aid. | 8 | ········ |
| Thou, thine own daughter, then, and sire, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| That son and mother art intire, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That big still with thy self dost go, | 8 | ········ |
| And liv'st an aged embrio; | 6 | ······ |
| That like the cubbs of India, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Thou from thy self a while dost play; | 8 | ········ |
| But frighted with a dog or gun, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| In thine own belly thou dost run, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And as thy house was thine own womb, | 8 | ········ |
| So thine own womb concludes thy tomb. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| But now I must (analys'd king) | 8 | ········ |
| Thy oeconomick virtues sing; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Thou great stay'd husband still within, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Thou thee that's thine dost discipline; | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| And when thou art to progress bent, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Thou mov'st thy self and tenement, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| As warlike Scythians travayl'd, you | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| Remove your men and city too; | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Then, after a sad dearth and rain, | 8 | ········ |
| Thou scatterest thy silver train; | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| And when the trees grow nak'd and old, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Thou cloathest them with cloth of gold, | 8 | ········ |
| Which from thy bowels thou dost spin, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And draw from the rich mines within. | 8 | ········ |
| Now hast thou chang'd thee, saint, and made | 8 | ········ |
| Thy self a fane that's cupula'd; | 8 | ········ |
| And in thy wreathed cloister thou | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Walkest thine own gray fryer too; | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Strickt and lock'd up, th'art hood all ore, | 8 | ········ |
| And ne'r eliminat'st thy dore. | 8 | ········ |
| On sallads thou dost feed severe, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And 'stead of beads thou drop'st a tear, | 8 | ········ |
| And when to rest each calls the bell, | 8 | ········ |
| Thou sleep'st within thy marble cell, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Where, in dark contemplation plac'd, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| The sweets of Nature thou dost tast, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Who now with time thy days resolve, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And in a jelly thee dissolve, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Like a shot star, which doth repair | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Upward, and rarifie the air. | 8 | /˘······ |
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.