Poem III
Soone after this I saw on th’other sideA curious Coffer made of heben wood,That in it did most precious treasure hide,Exceeding all this baser worldës good:Yet through the overflowing of the floodIt almost drowned was and done to nought,That sight thereof much griev’d my pensive thought.
At length, when most in perill it was brought,Two angels, downe descending with swift flight,Out of the swelling streame it lightly caught,And twixt their blessed armes it carried quightAbove the reach of anie living sight:So now it is transform’d into that starre,In which all heavenly treasures locked are.
Words in this poem
- curious a.
- Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [OF. curios, curius, F. curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See Cure.]
- perill v. i.
- To be in danger.
- starre n.
- One of the innumerable luminous bodies seen in the heavens; any heavenly body other than the sun, moon, comets, and nebulæ. [OE. sterre, AS. steorra; akin to OFries. stera, OS. sterro, D. ster, OHG. sterno, sterro, G. stern, Icel. stjarna, Sw. stjerna, Dan. stierne, Goth. staírno, Arm]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Poem III 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 III, in Amoretti and Epithalamion, and Other Poems (1595), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10602, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/spenser-amoretti/poem-iii-2.html, id L23745.
Form and metre
Poem III is 14 lines in 2 stanzas of 7 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABBCC, the Rhyme royal. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in rhyme royal, 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 ABABBCC sideA · woodB · hideA · goodB · floodB · noughtC · thoughtC
- 2 ABABBCC broughtA · flightB · caughtA · quightB · sightB · starreC · areC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Soone after this I saw on th’other side | 10 | ·········· |
| A curious Coffer made of heben wood, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| That in it did most precious treasure hide, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Exceeding all this baser worldës good: | 9 | ˘/˘··/˘·· |
| Yet through the overflowing of the flood | 10 | ···/˘·˘··· |
| It almost drowned was and done to nought, | 10 | ·/··˘····· |
| That sight thereof much griev’d my pensive thought. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| At length, when most in perill it was brought, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Two angels, downe descending with swift flight, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Out of the swelling streame it lightly caught, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And twixt their blessed armes it carried quight | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| Above the reach of anie living sight: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| So now it is transform’d into that starre, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| In which all heavenly treasures locked are. | 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.