The Shrouding of the Duchess of Malfi
Hark! Now everything is still,The screech-owl and the whistler shrill,Call upon our dame aloud,And bid her quickly don her shroud!
Much you had of land and rent;Your length in clay’s now competent:A long war disturb’d your mind;Here your perfect peace is sign’d.
Of what is’t fools make such vain keeping?Sin their conception, their birth weeping,Their life a general mist of error,Their death a hideous storm of terror.Strew your hair with powders sweet,Don clean linen, bathe your feet,And--the foul fiend more to check--A crucifix let bless your neck:’Tis now full tide ’tween night and day;End your groan and come away.
Words in this poem
- whistler n.
- One who, or that which, whistles, or produces or a whistling sound. [AS. hwistlere.]
- dame n.
- A mistress of a family, who is a lady; a womam in authority; especially, a lady. [F. dame, LL. domna, fr. L. domina mistress, lady, fem. of dominus master, ruler, lord; akin to domare to tame, subdue. See Tame, and cf. Dam mother, Dan, Danger]
- aloud adv.
- With a loud voice, or great noise; loudly; audibly. [Pref. a- + loud.]
- crucifix n.
- A representation in art of the figure of Christ upon the cross; esp., the sculptured figure affixed to a real cross of wood, ivory, metal, or the like, used by the Roman Catholics in their devotions. [F. crucifix or LL. crucifixum, fr. L. crux, crucis, cross + figere, fixum, to fix. See Cross, and Fix, and cf. Crucify.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Shrouding of the Duchess of Malfi is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900, Project Gutenberg ebook #66619; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Webster, The Shrouding of the Duchess of Malfi, in Poems (1630), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-john-webster/the-shrouding-of-the-duchess-of-malfi.html, id L16032.
Form and metre
The Shrouding of the Duchess of Malfi is 18 lines in 3 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.7 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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 AABB stillA · shrillA · aloudB · shroudB
- 2 AABB rentA · competentA · mindB · sign'dB
- 3 AABBCCDDEE keepingA · weepingA · errorB · terrorB · sweetC · feetC · checkD · neckD · dayE · awayE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hark! Now everything is still, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| The screech-owl and the whistler shrill, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Call upon our dame aloud, | 7 | ···/·˘/ |
| And bid her quickly don her shroud! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Much you had of land and rent; | 7 | ······· |
| Your length in clay’s now competent: | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| A long war disturb’d your mind; | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Here your perfect peace is sign’d. | 7 | ··˘/··· |
| Of what is’t fools make such vain keeping? | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Sin their conception, their birth weeping, | 9 | ··˘/˘··/˘ |
| Their life a general mist of error, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Their death a hideous storm of terror. | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Strew your hair with powders sweet, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Don clean linen, bathe your feet, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And--the foul fiend more to check-- | 7 | ······· |
| A crucifix let bless your neck: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| ’Tis now full tide ’tween night and day; | 8 | ········ |
| End your groan and come away. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
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.