Mercy
The quality of mercy is not strain’d;It droppeth as the gentle rain from HeavenUpon the place beneath: it is twice bless’d;It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes:’Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomesThe throned monarch better than his crown:His scepter shows the force of temporal power,The attribute to awe and majesty,Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;But mercy is above his sceptered sway;It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,It is an attribute to God himself;And earthly power doth then show likest God’sWhen mercy seasons justice.
About this text
Mercy is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Every Child Should Know The What-Every-Child-Should-Know-Library, Project Gutenberg ebook #16436; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Mary E. Burt, Mercy, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/mercy.html, id L25318.
Form and metre
Mercy is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
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 -A---A--B-B--- strain'd · heavenA · bless'd · takes · becomes · crownA · power · majesty · kingsB · sway · kingsB · himself · god's · justice
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The quality of mercy is not strain’d; | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| It droppeth as the gentle rain from Heaven | 11 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| Upon the place beneath: it is twice bless’d; | 10 | ·········· |
| It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes: | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| ’Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| The throned monarch better than his crown: | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| His scepter shows the force of temporal power, | 10 | ·······/˘/ |
| The attribute to awe and majesty, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; | 10 | ·········· |
| But mercy is above his sceptered sway; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, | 10 | ····˘····· |
| It is an attribute to God himself; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| And earthly power doth then show likest God’s | 10 | ·/˘/······ |
| When mercy seasons justice. | 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.