Prayer to the Father of Heauen
O radiant Luminary of lyght intermynable,Celestial Father, potenciall God of myght,Of heauen and earth, O Lord incomperable,Of all perfections the essencial most perfyght!O Maker of mankynde, that formyd day and nyghte,Whose power imperyal comprehendeth euery place!Myne hert, my mynde, my thought, my hole delyghtIs, after this lyfe, to see thy glorious face:
Whose magnifycence is incomprehensybyll,All argumentes of reason which far doth excede,Whose Deite dowtles is indiuysybyll,From whom all goodnes and vertue doth procede;Of thy support all creatures haue nede:Assyst me, good Lord, and graunte me of thy grace,To lyue to thy pleasure in word, thoughte, and dede,And, after this lyfe, to see thy glorious face.
Words in this poem
- luminary n.
- Any body that gives light, especially one of the heavenly bodies. [F. luminaire, L. luminare a light or lamp, which was lighted in the churches, a luminary, fr. lumen, luminis, light, fr. lucere to be light, to shine, lux, luci]
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Prayer to the Father of Heauen is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of John Skelton, Volume 1 (of 2), Project Gutenberg ebook #59997; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Skelton, Prayer to the Father of Heauen, in Poetical Works, Volume I (1500–1529), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59997, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/skelton-poems/prayer-to-the-father-of-heauen.html, id L08652.
Form and metre
Prayer to the Father of Heauen is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABBCBC. The metre is iambic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.9 syllables. 6% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic hexameter.
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 ABABBCBC intermynableA · myghtB · incomperableA · perfyghtB · nyghteB · placeC · delyghtB · faceC
- 2 ABABBCBC incomprehensybyllA · excedeB · indiuysybyllA · procedeB · nedeB · graceC · dedeB · faceC
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 hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| O radiant Luminary of lyght intermynable, | 14 | ·/˘/˘·˘······· |
| Celestial Father, potenciall God of myght, | 11 | ˘/˘/˘······ |
| Of heauen and earth, O Lord incomperable, | 11 | ··········· |
| Of all perfections the essencial most perfyght! | 12 | ··˘/˘······· |
| O Maker of mankynde, that formyd day and nyghte, | 12 | ·/˘········· |
| Whose power imperyal comprehendeth euery place! | 12 | ·/····˘/˘··· |
| Myne hert, my mynde, my thought, my hole delyght | 10 | ·········· |
| Is, after this lyfe, to see thy glorious face: | 11 | ········/˘· |
| Whose magnifycence is incomprehensybyll, | 12 | ············ |
| All argumentes of reason which far doth excede, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘····· |
| Whose Deite dowtles is indiuysybyll, | 8 | ········ |
| From whom all goodnes and vertue doth procede; | 9 | ········· |
| Of thy support all creatures haue nede: | 9 | ··˘/·/˘·· |
| Assyst me, good Lord, and graunte me of thy grace, | 11 | ··········· |
| To lyue to thy pleasure in word, thoughte, and dede, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| And, after this lyfe, to see thy glorious face. | 11 | ········/˘· |
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.