Natvs Est Lavrentivs in Eternvm Ann. XX. Dormit in Pace (A.D. 329) XI
"Unbidden earth shall wreathing ivy bring,And fragrant herbs (the promises of spring)As her first off'rings to her infant king.
Unlaboured harvest shall the fields adorn,And clustered grapes shall blush on every thorn;The knotted oaks shall showers of honey weep,And through the matted grass the liquid gold shall creep."(Dryden's Trans.)
"With such a horrid clangAs on Mount Sinai rangWhile the red fire and smould'ring clouds outbrake:The aged earth aghastWith terror of that blast,Shall from the surface to the centre shake;When at the world's last sessionThe dreadful Judge in middle air shall spread his throne."
Words in this poem
- unbidden a.
- Not bidden; not commanded.
- 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,]
- unlaboured a.
- Not produced by labor or toil.
- horrid a.
- Rough; rugged; bristling. [L. horridus. See Horror, and cf. Ordure.]
- clang v. t.
- To strike together so as to produce a ringing metallic sound. [L. clangere; akin to Gr. clank.]
- centre v. i.
- To be placed in a center; to be central.
- session n.
- The act of sitting, or the state of being seated. [L. sessio, fr. sedere, sessum, to sit: cf. F. session. See Sit.]
- dreadful a.
- Full of dread or terror; fearful.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Natvs Est Lavrentivs in Eternvm Ann. XX. Dormit in Pace (A.D. 329) XI 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, Natvs Est Lavrentivs in Eternvm Ann. XX. Dormit in Pace (A.D. 329) XI, in The Hymns of Prudentius (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #14959, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/prudentius-hymns/natvs-est-lavrentivs-in-eternvm-ann-xx-dormit-in-pace-a-d-32.html, id L23697.
Form and metre
Natvs Est Lavrentivs in Eternvm Ann. XX. Dormit in Pace (A.D. 329) XI is 16 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 62% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AAA bringA · springA · kingA
- 2 AABB- adornA · thornA · weepB · creepB · trans
- 3 AABCCBDD clangA · rangA · outbrakeB · aghastC · blastC · shakeB · sessionD · throneD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| "Unbidden earth shall wreathing ivy bring, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| And fragrant herbs (the promises of spring) | 9 | ·/˘··/˘·· |
| As her first off'rings to her infant king. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Unlaboured harvest shall the fields adorn, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| And clustered grapes shall blush on every thorn; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| The knotted oaks shall showers of honey weep, | 10 | ·/˘··/·/˘· |
| And through the matted grass the liquid gold shall creep." | 12 | ···/˘··/˘··· |
| (Dryden's Trans.) | 3 | /˘· |
| "With such a horrid clang | 6 | ···/˘· |
| As on Mount Sinai rang | 6 | ···/·· |
| While the red fire and smould'ring clouds outbrake: | 10 | ···/······ |
| The aged earth aghast | 5 | ···˘/ |
| With terror of that blast, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Shall from the surface to the centre shake; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| When at the world's last session | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The dreadful Judge in middle air shall spread his throne." | 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.