Clio
Heare, thou great Father of the Gods on hie,That most art dreaded for thy thunder darts;And thou, our Syre? that raignst in CastalieAnd Mount Parnasse, the god of goodly arts:Heare, and behold the miserable stateOf us thy daughters, dolefull desolate.
Behold the fowle reproach and open shameThe which is day by day unto us wroughtBy such as hate the honour of our name,The foes of learning and each gentle thought;They, not contented us themselves to scorne,Doo seeke to make us of the world forlorne.
Ne onely they that dwell in lowly dust,The sonnes of darknes and of ignoraunce;But they whom thou, great love, by doome uniustDidst to the type of honour earst advaunce;They now, puft up with sdeignfull insolence,Despise the brood of blessed Sapience.
The sectaries of my celestiall skill,That wont to be the worlds chiefe ornament,And learned impes that wont to shoote up still,And grow to hight of kingdomes government,They underkeep, and with their spredding armesDoo beat their buds, that perish through their harmes.
It most behoves the honorable raceOf mightie peeres true wisedome to sustaine,And with their noble countenaunce to graceThe learned forheads, without gifts or game:Or rather learnd themselves behoves to bee;That is the girlond of nobilitie.
But ah! all otherwise they doo esteemeOf th’heavenly gift of wisdomes influence,And to be learned it a base thing deeme:Base minded they that want intelligence;For God himselfe for wisedome most is praised,And men to God thereby are nighest raised.
But they doo onely strive themselves to raiseThrough pompous pride, and foolish vanitie;In th’eyes of people they put all their praise,And onely boast of armes and auncestrie:But vertuous deeds, which did those armes first giveTo their grandsyres, they care not to atchive.
So I, that doo all noble feates professeTo register and sound in trump of gold,Through their bad dooings, or base slothfulnesse,Finde nothing worthie to be writ, or told:For better farre it were to hide their names,Than telling them to blazon out their blames.
So shall succeeding ages have no lightOf things forepast, nor moniments of time;And all that in this world is worthie hightShall die in darknesse, and lie hid in slime!Therefore I mourne with deep harts sorrowing,Because I nothing noble have to sing.
With that she raynd such store of streaming teares,That could have made a stonie heart to weep;And all her sisters rent their golden heares,And their faire faces with salt humour steep.So ended shee: and then the next anewBegan her grievous plaint, as doth ensew.
Words in this poem 20
- goodly a.
- Pleasant; agreeable; desirable. [OE. godlich, AS. g. See Good, and Like.]
- dolefull a.
- Full of dole or grief; expressing or exciting sorrow; sorrowful; sad; dismal.
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- insolence n.
- The quality of being unusual or novel. [F. insolence, L. insolentia. See Insolent.]
- despise v. t.
- To look down upon with disfavor or contempt; to contemn; to scorn; to disdain; to have a low opinion or contemptuous dislike of. [OF. despis-, in some forms of despire to despise, fr. L. despicere, despectum, to look down upon, despise; de- + spicere, specere, to look. See Spy, and cf. Des]
- sapience n.
- The quality of being sapient; wisdom; sageness; knowledge. [L. sapientia: cf. F. sapience. See Sapient..]
- celestiall a.
- Belonging to the aërial regions, or visible heavens. [OF. celestial, celestied, fr. L. caelestic, fr. caelum heaved. See Cell.]
- hight v. t.
- To be called or named. [OE. heiten, highten, haten, hoten; also hight, hatte, hette, is called, was called, AS. hatan to call, name, be called, to command, promise; also hatte is calle]
- underkeep v. t.
- To keep under, or in subjection; to suppress.
- girlond n.
- A garland; a prize. Chapman. [See Garland, n.]
- vertuous a.
- Virtuous; powerful.
- farre n.
- A young pig, or a litter of pigs. [See Farrow.]
- blazon v. t.
- To depict in colors; to display; to exhibit conspicuously; to publish or make public far and wide. [From blazon, n.; confused with 4th blaze: cf. F. blasonner.]
- 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,]
- mourne n.
- The armed or feruled end of a staff; in a sheephook, the end of the staff to which the hook is attached. Sir P. Sidney. [See 2d Morne.]
- streaming a.
- Sending forth streams.
- humour n.
- Moisture, especially, the moisture or fluid of animal bodies, as the chyle, lymph, etc.; as, the humors of the eye, etc. [OE. humour, OF. humor, umor, F. humeur, L. humor, umor, moisture, fluid, fr. humere, umere, to be moist. See Humid.]
- plaint n.
- Audible expression of sorrow; lamentation; complaint; hence, a mournful song; a lament. Chaucer."The Psalmist's mournful plaint." [OE. plainte, pleynte, F. plainte, fr. L. plangere, planctum (plancta, fem. p.p.), to beat, beat the breast, lament. Cf. Complain, Plague, Plangent.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Clio is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Edmund Spenser, Volume 5, Project Gutenberg ebook #10602; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edmund Spenser, Clio, in Amoretti and Epithalamion, and Other Poems (1595), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10602, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/spenser-amoretti/clio.html, id L23751.
Form and metre
Clio is 60 lines in 10 stanzas of 6 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABABCC, in 4 of the 10 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 ABABCC hieA · dartsB · castalieA · artsB · stateC · desolateC
- 2 ABABCC shameA · wroughtB · nameA · thoughtB · scorneC · forlorneC
- 3 ABAB-- dustA · ignoraunceB · uniustA · advaunceB · insolence · sapience
- 4 A-A-BB skillA · ornament · stillA · government · armesB · harmesB
- 5 A-A--- raceA · sustaine · graceA · game · bee · nobilitie
- 6 A-A-BB esteemeA · influence · deemeA · intelligence · praisedB · raisedB
- 7 ABAB-- raiseA · vanitieB · praiseA · auncestrieB · give · atchive
- 8 ABABCC professeA · goldB · slothfulnesseA · toldB · namesC · blamesC
- 9 ABABCC lightA · timeB · hightA · slimeB · sorrowingC · singC
- 10 -A-A-- teares · weepA · heares · steepA · anew · ensew
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Heare, thou great Father of the Gods on hie, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| That most art dreaded for thy thunder darts; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And thou, our Syre? that raignst in Castalie | 10 | ··/······· |
| And Mount Parnasse, the god of goodly arts: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Heare, and behold the miserable state | 10 | ··˘/·/˘˘˘· |
| Of us thy daughters, dolefull desolate. | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| Behold the fowle reproach and open shame | 11 | ˘/·/˘˘/·/˘· |
| The which is day by day unto us wrought | 10 | ·········· |
| By such as hate the honour of our name, | 10 | ·····/˘·/· |
| The foes of learning and each gentle thought; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| They, not contented us themselves to scorne, | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/·· |
| Doo seeke to make us of the world forlorne. | 10 | ·········· |
| Ne onely they that dwell in lowly dust, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| The sonnes of darknes and of ignoraunce; | 10 | ·········· |
| But they whom thou, great love, by doome uniust | 10 | ·········· |
| Didst to the type of honour earst advaunce; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| They now, puft up with sdeignfull insolence, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Despise the brood of blessed Sapience. | 10 | ˘/····˘/˘˘ |
| The sectaries of my celestiall skill, | 9 | ·····˘/˘· |
| That wont to be the worlds chiefe ornament, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| And learned impes that wont to shoote up still, | 10 | ··˘······· |
| And grow to hight of kingdomes government, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| They underkeep, and with their spredding armes | 10 | ·········· |
| Doo beat their buds, that perish through their harmes. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| It most behoves the honorable race | 10 | ·····/˘˘˘· |
| Of mightie peeres true wisedome to sustaine, | 11 | ··········· |
| And with their noble countenaunce to grace | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The learned forheads, without gifts or game: | 10 | ··˘······· |
| Or rather learnd themselves behoves to bee; | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| That is the girlond of nobilitie. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| But ah! all otherwise they doo esteeme | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Of th’heavenly gift of wisdomes influence, | 11 | ······/˘/˘˘ |
| And to be learned it a base thing deeme: | 10 | ····˘····· |
| Base minded they that want intelligence; | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘˘ |
| For God himselfe for wisedome most is praised, | 11 | ··········· |
| And men to God thereby are nighest raised. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But they doo onely strive themselves to raise | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Through pompous pride, and foolish vanitie; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| In th’eyes of people they put all their praise, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And onely boast of armes and auncestrie: | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| But vertuous deeds, which did those armes first give | 11 | ·/˘˘······· |
| To their grandsyres, they care not to atchive. | 10 | ·········· |
| So I, that doo all noble feates professe | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To register and sound in trump of gold, | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| Through their bad dooings, or base slothfulnesse, | 9 | ········· |
| Finde nothing worthie to be writ, or told: | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| For better farre it were to hide their names, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Than telling them to blazon out their blames. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| So shall succeeding ages have no light | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Of things forepast, nor moniments of time; | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| And all that in this world is worthie hight | 10 | ·········· |
| Shall die in darknesse, and lie hid in slime! | 10 | ·········· |
| Therefore I mourne with deep harts sorrowing, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Because I nothing noble have to sing. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| With that she raynd such store of streaming teares, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| That could have made a stonie heart to weep; | 10 | ·········· |
| And all her sisters rent their golden heares, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And their faire faces with salt humour steep. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| So ended shee: and then the next anew | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Began her grievous plaint, as doth ensew. | 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.