Gemella Dormit in Pace
"The Body, too, with Yesterday's excessBurthened and tired, shall the pure Soul depress,Weigh down this Portion of celestial Birth,This Breath of God, and fix it to the Earth."(Francis).
"Nosco meum in Christo corpus resurgere; quid meDesperare iubes? veniam, quibus ille revenitCalcata de morte viis: quod credimus hoc est.
Pellite corde metum, mea membra, et credite vosmetCum Christo reditura Deo; nam vos gerit illeEt secum revocat: morbos ridete minaces:Inflictos casus contemnite; tetra sepulcraDespuite; exsurgens quo Christus provocat, ite."
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- quid n.
- A portion suitable to be chewed; a cud; as, a quid of tobacco. [See Cud.]
- quod v.
- Quoth; said. See Quoth.
- casus n.
- An event; an occurrence; an occasion; a combination of circumstances; a case; an act of God. See the Note under Accident. [L.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Gemella Dormit in Pace is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Hymns of Prudentius, Project Gutenberg ebook #14959; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Prudentius, Gemella Dormit in Pace, in The Hymns of Prudentius (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #14959, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/prudentius-hymns/gemella-dormit-in-pace.html, id L23695.
Form and metre
Gemella Dormit in Pace is 13 lines in 3 stanzas.
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 AABBA excessA · depressA · birthB · earthB · francisA
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| "The Body, too, with Yesterday's excess | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Burthened and tired, shall the pure Soul depress, | 10 | ···/····˘/ |
| Weigh down this Portion of celestial Birth, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| This Breath of God, and fix it to the Earth." | 10 | ·········· |
| (Francis). | 2 | /˘ |
| "Nosco meum in Christo corpus resurgere; quid me | 14 | ··/˘·/˘/˘····· |
| Desperare iubes? veniam, quibus ille revenit | 12 | ············ |
| Calcata de morte viis: quod credimus hoc est. | 13 | ···········˘/ |
| Pellite corde metum, mea membra, et credite vosmet | 13 | ············· |
| Cum Christo reditura Deo; nam vos gerit ille | 14 | ·/˘····/˘····· |
| Et secum revocat: morbos ridete minaces: | 13 | ············· |
| Inflictos casus contemnite; tetra sepulcra | 13 | ···/˘···/˘··· |
| Despuite; exsurgens quo Christus provocat, ite." | 12 | ············ |
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.