Poem I
“What man henceforth that breatheth vitall aireWill honour Heaven, or heavenly powers adore,Which so uniustly doth their iudgements shareMongst earthly wights, as to afflict so soreThe innocent as those which do transgresse,And doe not spare the best or fairest moreThan worst or foulest, but doe both oppresse?
“If this be right, why did they then createThe world so faire, sith fairenesse is neglected?Or why be they themselves immaculate,If purest things be not by them respected?She faire, she pure, most faire, most pure she was,Yet was by them as thing impure reiected;Yet she in purenesse heaven it self did pas.
“In purenesse, and in all celestiall graceThat men admire in goodly womankind,She did excell, and seem’d of angels race,Living on earth like angell new divinde,Adorn’d with wisedome and with chastitie,And all the dowries of a noble mind,Which did her beautie much more beautifie.
“No age hath bred (since faire Astræa leftThe sinfull world) more vertue in a wight;And, when she parted hence, with her she reftGreat hope, and robd her race of bounty quight.Well may the shepheard lasses now lament;For doubble losse by her hath on them light,To loose both her and bounties ornament.
“Ne let Elisa, royall shepheardesse,The praises of my parted love envy,For she hath praises in all plenteousnessePowr’d upon her, like showers of Castaly,By her owne shepheard, Colin, her own shepheard,That her with heavenly hymnes doth deifie,Of rusticke Muse full hardly to be betterd.
“She is the rose, the glory of the day,And mine the primrose in the lowly shade:Mine? ah, not mine! amisse I mine did say:Not mine, but His which mine awhile her made;Mine to be-his, with him to live for ay.O that so faire a flowre so soon should fade,And through untimely tempest fall away!
“She fell away in her first ages spring,Whilst yet her leafe was greene, and fresh her rinde;And whilst her braunch faire blossomes foorth did bring,She fell away against all course of kinde.For age to dye is right, but youth is wrong;She fell away like fruit blowne down with winde.Weepe, Shepheard! weepe, to make my undersong**.
Words in this poem 22
- henceforth adv.
- From this time forward; henceforward.
- vitall a.
- Belonging or relating to life, either animal or vegetable; as, vital energies; vital functions; vital actions. [F., fr. L. vitalis, fr. vita life; akin to vivere to live. See Vivid.]
- 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.]
- adore v. t.
- To worship with profound reverence; to pay divine honors to; to honor as deity or as divine. [OE. aouren, anouren, adoren, OF. aorer, adorer, F. adorer, fr. L. adorare; ad + orare to speak, pray, os, oris, mouth. In OE. confused with honor, the French pr]
- afflict v. t.
- To strike or cast down; to overthrow. [L. afflictus, p. p. of affigere to cast down, deject; ad + fligere to strike: cf. OF. aflit, afflict, p. p. Cf. Flagellate.]
- sith prep.
- Since; afterwards; seeing that. [See Since.]
- immaculate a.
- Without stain or blemish; spotless; undefiled; clear; pure. [L. immaculatus; pref. im- not + maculatus, p. p. of maculare to spot, stane, fr. macula spot. See Mail armor.]
- celestiall a.
- Belonging to the aërial regions, or visible heavens. [OF. celestial, celestied, fr. L. caelestic, fr. caelum heaved. See Cell.]
- admire v. t.
- To regard with wonder or astonishment; to view with surprise; to marvel at. [F. admirer, fr. L. admirari; ad + mirari to wonder, for smirari, akin to Gr. smi, and E. smile.]
- goodly a.
- Pleasant; agreeable; desirable. [OE. godlich, AS. g. See Good, and Like.]
- womankind n.
- The females of the human race; women, collectively.
- excell v. t.
- To go beyond or surpass in good qualities or laudable deeds; to outdo or outgo, in a good sense. [L. excellere, excelsum; ex out + a root found in culmen height, top; cf. F. exceller. See Culminate, Column.]
- sinfull a.
- Tainted with, or full of, sin; wicked; iniquitous; criminal; unholy; as, sinful men; sinful thoughts. Piers Plowman. [AAS. synfull.]
- wight n.
- A whit; a bit; a jot. [OE. wight, wiht, a wight, a whit, AS. wiht, wuht, a creature, a thing; skin to D. wicht a child, OS. & OHG. wiht a creature, thing, G. wicht a creature, Icel. v]
- reft n.
- A chink; a rift. See Rift. Rom. of R.
- bounty n.
- Goodness, kindness; virtue; worth. [OE. bounte goodness, kindness, F. bonté, fr. L. bonitas, fr. bonus good, for older duonus; cf. Skr. duvas honor, respect.]
- losse n.
- Praise. See Loos.
- royall a.
- Kingly; pertaining to the crown or the sovereign; suitable for a king or queen; regal; as, royal power or prerogative; royal domains; the royal family; royal state. [OE. roial, riall, real, OF. roial. reial, F. royal, fr. L. regalis, fr. rex, regis, king. See Rich, and cf. regal, real a coin, Rial.]
- colin n.
- The American quail or bobwhite. The name is also applied to other related species. See Bobwhite. [F. colin; prop. a dim. of Colas, contr. fr. Nicolas Nicholas.]
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
- 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.]
- undersong n.
- The burden of a song; the chorus; the refrain.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Poem I 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, Poem I, in Amoretti and Epithalamion, and Other Poems (1595), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10602, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/spenser-amoretti/poem-i-3.html, id L23770.
Form and metre
Poem I is 49 lines in 7 stanzas of 7 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCBC, complete in 4 of its 7 stanzas. 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 ABABCBC aireA · adoreB · shareA · soreB · transgresseC · moreB · oppresseC
- 2 -A-ABAB create · neglectedA · immaculate · respectedA · wasB · reiectedA · pasB
- 3 ABABCBC graceA · womankindB · raceA · divindeB · chastitieC · mindB · beautifieC
- 4 ABABCBC leftA · wightB · reftA · quightB · lamentC · lightB · ornamentC
- 5 A-A---- shepheardesseA · envy · plenteousnesseA · castaly · shepheard · deifie · betterd
- 6 ABABABA dayA · shadeB · sayA · madeB · ayA · fadeB · awayA
- 7 ABABCBC springA · rindeB · bringA · kindeB · wrongC · windeB · undersongC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “What man henceforth that breatheth vitall aire | 10 | ··//·/˘/˘· |
| Will honour Heaven, or heavenly powers adore, | 10 | ·/˘/·/˘/˘/ |
| Which so uniustly doth their iudgements share | 11 | ··········· |
| Mongst earthly wights, as to afflict so sore | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| The innocent as those which do transgresse, | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| And doe not spare the best or fairest more | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Than worst or foulest, but doe both oppresse? | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| “If this be right, why did they then create | 10 | ········˘/ |
| The world so faire, sith fairenesse is neglected? | 12 | ·········˘/˘ |
| Or why be they themselves immaculate, | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘˘ |
| If purest things be not by them respected? | 11 | ·/˘·····˘/˘ |
| She faire, she pure, most faire, most pure she was, | 10 | ·········· |
| Yet was by them as thing impure reiected; | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Yet she in purenesse heaven it self did pas. | 11 | ······/···· |
| “In purenesse, and in all celestiall grace | 11 | ·······˘/˘· |
| That men admire in goodly womankind, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/˘˘ |
| She did excell, and seem’d of angels race, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Living on earth like angell new divinde, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Adorn’d with wisedome and with chastitie, | 11 | ˘/········· |
| And all the dowries of a noble mind, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Which did her beautie much more beautifie. | 10 | ·········· |
| “No age hath bred (since faire Astræa left | 9 | ······/˘· |
| The sinfull world) more vertue in a wight; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And, when she parted hence, with her she reft | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Great hope, and robd her race of bounty quight. | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Well may the shepheard lasses now lament; | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| For doubble losse by her hath on them light, | 10 | ·········· |
| To loose both her and bounties ornament. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| “Ne let Elisa, royall shepheardesse, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| The praises of my parted love envy, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·/˘ |
| For she hath praises in all plenteousnesse | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Powr’d upon her, like showers of Castaly, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| By her owne shepheard, Colin, her own shepheard, | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| That her with heavenly hymnes doth deifie, | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Of rusticke Muse full hardly to be betterd. | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| “She is the rose, the glory of the day, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And mine the primrose in the lowly shade: | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| Mine? ah, not mine! amisse I mine did say: | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| Not mine, but His which mine awhile her made; | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Mine to be-his, with him to live for ay. | 10 | ·········· |
| O that so faire a flowre so soon should fade, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| And through untimely tempest fall away! | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| “She fell away in her first ages spring, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Whilst yet her leafe was greene, and fresh her rinde; | 10 | ·········· |
| And whilst her braunch faire blossomes foorth did bring, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| She fell away against all course of kinde. | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| For age to dye is right, but youth is wrong; | 10 | ·········· |
| She fell away like fruit blowne down with winde. | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Weepe, Shepheard! weepe, to make my undersong**. | 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.