Melpomene
O, who shall powre into my swollen eyesA sea of teares that never may be dryde,A brasen voice that may with shrilling cryesPierce the dull heavens and fill the ayër wide,And yron sides that sighing may endure,To waile the wretchednes of world impure!
Ah, wretched world! the den of wickednesse,Deformd with filth and fowle iniquitie;Ah, wretched world! the house of heavinesse,Fild with the wreaks of mortall miserie;Ah, wretched world, and all that is therein!The vassals of Gods wrath, and slaves of sin.
Most miserable creature under skyMan without understanding doth appeare;For all this worlds affliction he thereby,And fortunes freakes, is wisely taught to beare:Of wretched life the onely ioy shee is.And th’only comfort in calamities.
She armes the brest with constant patienceAgainst the bitter throwes of dolours darts:She solaceth with rules of sapienceThe gentle minds, in midst of worldlie smarts:When he is sad, shee seeks to make him merie,And doth refresh his sprights when they be werie.
But he that is of reasons skill bereft,And wants the staffe of wisedome him to stay,Is like a ship in midst of tempest leftWithouten helme or pilot her to sway:Full sad and dreadfull is that ships event;So is the man that wants intendiment.
Whie then doo foolish men so much despizeThe precious store of this celestiall riches?Why doo they banish us, that patronizeThe name of learning? Most unhappie wretches!The which lie drowned in deep wretchednes,Yet doo not see their owne unhappines.
My part it is and my professed skillThe stage with tragick buskin to adorne,And fill the scene with plaint and outcries shrillOf wretched persons, to misfortune borne:But none more tragick matter I can findeThan this, of men depriv’d of sense and minde.
For all mans life me seemes a tragedy,Full of sad sights and sore catastrophees;First comming to the world with weeping eye,Where all his dayes, like dolorous trophees,Are heapt with spoyles of fortune and of feare,And he at last laid forth on balefull beare.
So all with rufull spectacles is fild,Fit for Megera or Persephone;But I that in true tragedies am skild,The flowre of wit, finde nought to busie me:Therefore I mourne, and pitifully mone,Because that mourning matter I have none.
Then gan she wofully to waile, and wringHer wretched hands in lamentable wise;And all her sisters, thereto answering,Threw forth lowd shrieks and drerie dolefull cries.So rested she: and then the next in rewBegan her grievous plaint, as doth ensew.
Words in this poem 15
- 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,]
- mortall a.
- Subject to death; destined to die; as, man is mortal. [F. mortel, L. mortalis, from mors, mortis, death, fr. moriri 8die; akin to E. murder. See Murder, and cf. Filemot, Mere a lake, Mortgage.]
- sapience n.
- The quality of being sapient; wisdom; sageness; knowledge. [L. sapientia: cf. F. sapience. See Sapient..]
- dreadfull a.
- Full of dread or terror; fearful.
- intendiment n.
- Attention; consideration; knowledge; understanding. [LL. intendimentum. See Intendment.]
- celestiall a.
- Belonging to the aërial regions, or visible heavens. [OF. celestial, celestied, fr. L. caelestic, fr. caelum heaved. See Cell.]
- patronize v. t.
- To act as patron toward; to support; to countenance; to favor; to aid.
- buskin n.
- A strong, protecting covering for the foot, coming some distance up the leg. [Prob. from OF. brossequin, or D. broosken. See Brodekin.]
- 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.]
- dolorous a.
- Full of grief; sad; sorrowful; doleful; dismal; as, a dolorous object; dolorous discourses. [L. dolorosus, from dolor: cf. F. douloureux. See Dolor.]
- balefull a.
- Full of deadly or pernicious influence; destructive. [AS. bealoful. See Bale misery.]
- flowre n.
- In the popular sense, the bloom or blossom of a plant; the showy portion, usually of a different color, shape, and texture from the foliage. [OE. flour, OF. flour, flur, flor, F. fleur, fr. L. flos, floris. Cf. Blossom, Effloresce, Floret, Florid, Florin, Flour, Flourish.]
- 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.]
- wofully adv.
- In a woeful manner; sorrowfully; mournfully; miserably; dolefully.
- dolefull a.
- Full of dole or grief; expressing or exciting sorrow; sorrowful; sad; dismal.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Melpomene 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, Melpomene, in Amoretti and Epithalamion, and Other Poems (1595), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10602, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/spenser-amoretti/melpomene.html, id L23752.
Form and metre
Melpomene is 60 lines in 10 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 6 of its 10 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 eyesA · drydeB · cryesA · wideB · endureC · impureC
- 2 ABABCC wickednesseA · iniquitieB · heavinesseA · miserieB · thereinC · sinC
- 3 ABABCC skyA · appeareB · therebyA · beareB · isC · calamitiesC
- 4 ABABCC patienceA · dartsB · sapienceA · smartsB · merieC · werieC
- 5 ABABCC bereftA · stayB · leftA · swayB · eventC · intendimentC
- 6 AAABBB despizeA · richesA · patronizeA · wretchesB · wretchednesB · unhappinesB
- 7 ABABCC skillA · adorneB · shrillA · borneB · findeC · mindeC
- 8 -A-ABB tragedy · catastropheesA · eye · tropheesA · feareB · beareB
- 9 ABA-B- fildA · persephoneB · skildA · me · moneB · none
- 10 ABAB-- wringA · wiseB · answeringA · criesB · rew · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| O, who shall powre into my swollen eyes | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| A sea of teares that never may be dryde, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| A brasen voice that may with shrilling cryes | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Pierce the dull heavens and fill the ayër wide, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And yron sides that sighing may endure, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| To waile the wretchednes of world impure! | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| Ah, wretched world! the den of wickednesse, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Deformd with filth and fowle iniquitie; | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| Ah, wretched world! the house of heavinesse, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Fild with the wreaks of mortall miserie; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Ah, wretched world, and all that is therein! | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The vassals of Gods wrath, and slaves of sin. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Most miserable creature under sky | 10 | ·/˘˘˘/˘··· |
| Man without understanding doth appeare; | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| For all this worlds affliction he thereby, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| And fortunes freakes, is wisely taught to beare: | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Of wretched life the onely ioy shee is. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And th’only comfort in calamities. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| She armes the brest with constant patience | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Against the bitter throwes of dolours darts: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| She solaceth with rules of sapience | 10 | ·/˘˘···/˘˘ |
| The gentle minds, in midst of worldlie smarts: | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| When he is sad, shee seeks to make him merie, | 11 | ··········· |
| And doth refresh his sprights when they be werie. | 11 | ··˘/······· |
| But he that is of reasons skill bereft, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| And wants the staffe of wisedome him to stay, | 11 | ··········· |
| Is like a ship in midst of tempest left | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Withouten helme or pilot her to sway: | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| Full sad and dreadfull is that ships event; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| So is the man that wants intendiment. | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| Whie then doo foolish men so much despize | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The precious store of this celestiall riches? | 11 | ·/˘···˘/˘/˘ |
| Why doo they banish us, that patronize | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The name of learning? Most unhappie wretches! | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| The which lie drowned in deep wretchednes, | 10 | ····˘····· |
| Yet doo not see their owne unhappines. | 9 | ········· |
| My part it is and my professed skill | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| The stage with tragick buskin to adorne, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And fill the scene with plaint and outcries shrill | 10 | ·······/·· |
| Of wretched persons, to misfortune borne: | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| But none more tragick matter I can finde | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Than this, of men depriv’d of sense and minde. | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| For all mans life me seemes a tragedy, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Full of sad sights and sore catastrophees; | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| First comming to the world with weeping eye, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Where all his dayes, like dolorous trophees, | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| Are heapt with spoyles of fortune and of feare, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And he at last laid forth on balefull beare. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| So all with rufull spectacles is fild, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Fit for Megera or Persephone; | 9 | ········· |
| But I that in true tragedies am skild, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| The flowre of wit, finde nought to busie me: | 10 | ·/········ |
| Therefore I mourne, and pitifully mone, | 10 | ·····/˘˘˘· |
| Because that mourning matter I have none. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Then gan she wofully to waile, and wring | 11 | ··········· |
| Her wretched hands in lamentable wise; | 10 | ·/˘··˘/˘˘· |
| And all her sisters, thereto answering, | 10 | ···/˘˘//˘˘ |
| Threw forth lowd shrieks and drerie dolefull cries. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| So rested she: and then the next in rew | 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.