Integer Vitae
The man of life upright,Whose guiltless heart is freeFrom all dishonest deeds,Or thought of vanity;
The man whose silent daysIn harmless joys are spent,Whom hopes cannot delude,Nor sorrow discontent;
That man needs neither towersNor armour for defence,Nor secret vaults to flyFrom thunder’s violence:
He only can beholdWith unaffrighted eyesThe horrors of the deepAnd terrors of the skies.
Thus, scorning all the caresThat fate or fortune brings,He makes the heaven his book,His wisdom heavenly things;
Good thoughts his only friends,His wealth a well-spent age,The earth his sober innAnd quiet pilgrimage.
Words in this poem
- guiltless a.
- Free from guilt; innocent.
- dishonest a.
- Dishonorable; shameful; indecent; unchaste; lewd. [Pref. dis- + honest: cf. F. déshonnête, OF. deshoneste.]
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- armour n.
- Defensive arms for the body; any clothing or covering worn to protect one's person in battle. [OE. armure, fr. F. armure, OF. armeure, fr. L. armatura. See Armature.]
- defence n.
- The act of defending, or the state of being defended; protection, as from violence or danger. [F. défense, OF. defense, fem., defens, masc., fr. L. defensa (cf. Fence.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- pilgrimage n.
- The journey of a pilgrim; a long journey; especially, a journey to a shrine or other sacred place. Fig., the journey of human life. [OE. pilgrimage, pelgrinage; cf. F. pèlerinage.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Integer Vitae 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: Thomas Campion, Integer Vitae, in Poems (1567–1619), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-thomas-campion/integer-vitae.html, id L15997.
Form and metre
Integer Vitae is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.0 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 38% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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.
- 2 -A-A days · spentA · delude · discontentA
- 3 -A-A towers · defenceA · fly · violenceA
- 4 -A-A behold · eyesA · deep · skiesA
- 5 -A-A cares · bringsA · book · thingsA
- 6 -A-A friends · ageA · inn · pilgrimageA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The man of life upright, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Whose guiltless heart is free | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| From all dishonest deeds, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Or thought of vanity; | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| The man whose silent days | 6 | ···/˘· |
| In harmless joys are spent, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Whom hopes cannot delude, | 6 | ··˘/˘/ |
| Nor sorrow discontent; | 6 | ·/˘˘˘/ |
| That man needs neither towers | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Nor armour for defence, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Nor secret vaults to fly | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| From thunder’s violence: | 6 | ·/˘/˘˘ |
| He only can behold | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| With unaffrighted eyes | 6 | ······ |
| The horrors of the deep | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And terrors of the skies. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Thus, scorning all the cares | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| That fate or fortune brings, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| He makes the heaven his book, | 6 | ···/·· |
| His wisdom heavenly things; | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Good thoughts his only friends, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| His wealth a well-spent age, | 6 | ······ |
| The earth his sober inn | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And quiet pilgrimage. | 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.