L’Envoy
Immortall spirite of Philisides,Which now art made the heavens ornament,That whilome wast the worldës chiefst riches.Give leave to him that lov’de thee to lamentHis losse by lacke of thee to heaven hent,And with last duties of this broken verse,Broken with sighes, to decke thy sable herse!
And ye, faire Ladie! th’honor of your daiesAnd glorie of the world, your high thoughts scorne,Vouchsafe this moniment of his last praiseWith some few silver dropping teares t’adorne;And as ye be of heavenlie off-spring borne,So unto heaven let your high minde aspire,And loath this drosse of sinfull worlds desire.
Words in this poem
- immortall a.
- Not mortal; exempt from liability to die; undying; imperishable; lasting forever; having unlimited, or eternal, existance. [L. immortalis; pref. im- not + mortalis mortal: cf. F. immortel. See Mortal, and cf. Immortelle.]
- wast
- The second person singular of the verb be, in the indicative mood, imperfect tense; -- now used only in solemn or poetical style.
- losse n.
- Praise. See Loos.
- hent v. t.
- To seize; to lay hold on; to catch; to get. Piers Plowman. [OE. hente, henten, fr. AS. hentan, gehentan, to pursue, take, seize; cf. Icel. henda, Goth. hinpan (in compos.), and E. hunt.]
- sable n.
- A carnivorous animal of the Weasel family (Mustela zibellina) native of the northern latitudes of Europe, Asia, and America, -- noted for its fine, soft, and valuable fur. [OF. sable, F. zibeline sable (in sense 4), LL. sabellum; cf. D. sabel, Dan. sabel, zobel, Sw. sabel, sobel, G. zobel; all fr. Russ. sóbole.]
- herse n.
- A kind of gate or portcullis, having iron bars, like a harrow, studded with iron spikes. It is hung above gateways so that it may be quickly lowered, to impede the advance of an enemy. Farrow. [F. herse harrow, portcullis, OF. herce, LL. hercia, L. hirpex, gen. hirpicis, and irpex, gen. irpicis, harrow. The LL. hercia signifies also a kind of candlesti]
- vouchsafe v. t.
- To condescend to grant; to concede; to bestow. [Vouch + safe, that is, to vouch or answer for safety.]
- moniment n.
- Something to preserve memory; a reminder; a monument; hence, a mark; an image; a superscription; a record. [L. monimentum, monumentum. See Monument.]
- aspire v. t.
- To aspire to; to long for; to try to reach; to mount to.
- loath a.
- Hateful; odious; disliked. [OE. looth, loth, AS. la hostile, odious; akin to OS. l, G. leid, Icel. lei, Sw. led, G. leiden to suffer, OHG. lidan to suffer, go, cf. AS. li to go, Goth. leip]
- sinfull a.
- Tainted with, or full of, sin; wicked; iniquitous; criminal; unholy; as, sinful men; sinful thoughts. Piers Plowman. [AAS. synfull.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
L’Envoy 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, L’Envoy, in Amoretti and Epithalamion, and Other Poems (1595), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10602, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/spenser-amoretti/l-envoy.html, id L23749.
Form and metre
L’Envoy is 14 lines in 2 stanzas of 7 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
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-AABB philisides · ornamentA · riches · lamentA · hentA · verseB · herseB
- 2 ABABB-- daiesA · scorneB · praiseA · t'adorneB · borneB · aspire · desire
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Immortall spirite of Philisides, | 9 | ˘/˘······ |
| Which now art made the heavens ornament, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| That whilome wast the worldës chiefst riches. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Give leave to him that lov’de thee to lament | 10 | ········˘/ |
| His losse by lacke of thee to heaven hent, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And with last duties of this broken verse, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Broken with sighes, to decke thy sable herse! | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| And ye, faire Ladie! th’honor of your daies | 10 | ·········· |
| And glorie of the world, your high thoughts scorne, | 10 | ·········· |
| Vouchsafe this moniment of his last praise | 10 | ˘/·/˘˘···· |
| With some few silver dropping teares t’adorne; | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And as ye be of heavenlie off-spring borne, | 11 | ··········· |
| So unto heaven let your high minde aspire, | 10 | ···/····˘/ |
| And loath this drosse of sinfull worlds desire. | 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.