Inexorable
My thoughts hold mortal strife;I do detest my life,And with lamenting criesPeace to my soul to bringOft call that prince which here doth monarchise:--But he, grim-grinning King,Who caitiffs scorns, and doth the blest surprise.Late having deck’d with beauty’s rose his tomb,Disdains to crop a weed, and will not come.
Words in this poem
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- detest v. t.
- To witness against; to denounce; to condemn. [L. detestare, detestatum, and detestari, to curse while calling a deity to witness, to execrate, detest; de + testari to be a witness, testify, testis a witness]
- monarchise v. i.
- To play the sovereign; to act the monarch.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Inexorable 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: William Drummond, of Hawthornden, Inexorable, in Poems (1585–1649), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-william-drummond-of-hawthornden/inexorable.html, id L16042.
Form and metre
Inexorable is 9 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 22% 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.
- 1 AABCBCB-- strifeA · lifeA · criesB · bringC · monarchiseB · kingC · surpriseB · tomb · come
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 |
|---|---|---|
| My thoughts hold mortal strife; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I do detest my life, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| And with lamenting cries | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Peace to my soul to bring | 6 | ······ |
| Oft call that prince which here doth monarchise: | 10 | ·········· |
| --But he, grim-grinning King, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Who caitiffs scorns, and doth the blest surprise. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Late having deck’d with beauty’s rose his tomb, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Disdains to crop a weed, and will not come. | 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.