Poem IV
“My little flock, whom earst I lov’d so well,And wont to feed with finest grasse that grew,Feede ye hencefoorth on bitter astrofell,And stinking smallage, and unsaverie rew;And when your mawes are with those weeds corrupted,Be ye the pray of wolves; ne will I rewThat with your carkasses wild beasts be glutted.
“Ne worse to you, my sillie sheepe, I pray,Ne sorer vengeance wish on you to fallThan to my selfe, for whose confusde decay**To carelesse heavens I doo daylie call;But heavens refuse to heare a wretches cry;And cruell Death doth scorn to come at call,Or graunt his boone that most desires to dye.
“The good and righteous he away doth take,To plague th’unrighteous which alive remaine;But the ungodly ones he doth forsake,By living long to multiplie their paine;Else surely death should be no punishment,As the Great Iudge at first did it ordaine,But rather riddance from long languishment.
“Therefore, my Daphne they have tane away;For worthie of a better place was she:But me unworthie willed here to stay,That with her lacke I might tormented be.Sith then they so have ordred, I will payPenance to her, according their decree,And to her ghost doe service day by day.
“For I will walke this wandring pilgrimage,Throughout the world from one to other end,And in affliction waste my better age:My bread shall be the anguish of my mynd,My drink the teares which fro mine eyes do raine,My bed the ground that hardest I may fynd;So will I wilfully increase my paine.
“And she, my love that was, my saint that is,When she beholds from her celestiall throne(In which shee ioyeth in eternall blis)My bitter penance, will my case bemone,And pittie me that living thus doo die;For heavenly spirits have compassionOn mortall men, and rue their miserie.
“So when I have with sorrow satisfydeTh’importune Fates which vengeance on me seeks,And th’heavens with long languor pacifyde,She, for pure pitie of my sufferance meeke,Will send for me; for which I daily long,And will till then my painfull penance eeke,Weepe, Shepheard! weepe, to make my undersong.
Words in this poem 19
- astrofell n.
- A bitter herb, probably the same as aster, or starwort.
- smallage n.
- A biennial umbelliferous plant (Apium graveolens) native of the seacoats of Europe and Asia. When deprived of its acrid and even poisonous properties by cultivation, it becomes celery. [Small + F. ache smallage. See Ach parsley.]
- cruell a.
- Disposed to give pain to others; willing or pleased to hurt, torment, or afflict; destitute of sympathetic kindness and pity; savage; inhuman; hard-hearted; merciless. [F. cruel, fr. L. crudelis, fr. crudus. See Crude.]
- unrighteous a.
- Not righteous; evil; wicked; sinful; as, an unrighteous man. [OE. unrightwise, AS. unrihtwis. See Un- not, and Righteous.]
- ungodly a.
- Not godly; not having regard for God; disobedient to God; wicked; impious; sinful.
- riddance n.
- The act of ridding or freeing; deliverance; a cleaning up or out.
- languishment n.
- The state of languishing.
- daphne n.
- A genus of diminutive Shrubs, mostly evergreen, and with fragrant blossoms. [L., a laurel tree, from Gr. .]
- sith prep.
- Since; afterwards; seeing that. [See Since.]
- ghost n.
- The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
- pilgrimage n.
- The journey of a pilgrim; a long journey; especially, a journey to a shrine or other sacred place. Fig., the journey of human life. [OE. pilgrimage, pelgrinage; cf. F. pèlerinage.]
- 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,]
- celestiall a.
- Belonging to the aërial regions, or visible heavens. [OF. celestial, celestied, fr. L. caelestic, fr. caelum heaved. See Cell.]
- eternall a.
- Without beginning or end of existence; always existing. [F. éternel, L. aeternalis, fr. aeternus. See Etern.]
- 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.]
- importune a.
- Inopportune; unseasonable. [F. importun, L. importunus; pref. im- not + a derivative from the root of portus harbor, importunus therefore orig. meaning, hard of access. See Port harbor, an]
- sufferance n.
- The state of suffering; the bearing of pain; endurance. [OE. suffrance, OF. sufrance, soufrance, F. souffrance, L. sufferentia, from sufferens, -entis, p.pr. of sufferre. See Suffer.]
- painfull a.
- Full of pain; causing uneasiness or distress, either physical or mental; afflictive; disquieting; distressing
- undersong n.
- The burden of a song; the chorus; the refrain.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Poem IV 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 IV, in Amoretti and Epithalamion, and Other Poems (1595), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10602, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/spenser-amoretti/poem-iv-3.html, id L23773.
Form and metre
Poem IV is 49 lines in 7 stanzas of 7 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABABCBC, in 3 of the 7 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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 ABAB-B- wellA · grewB · astrofellA · rewB · corrupted · rewB · glutted
- 2 ABABCBC prayA · fallB · decayA · callB · cryC · callB · dyeC
- 3 ABABCBC takeA · remaineB · forsakeA · paineB · punishmentC · ordaineB · languishmentC
- 4 ABABABA awayA · sheB · stayA · beB · payA · decreeB · dayA
- 5 ABABCBC pilgrimageA · endB · ageA · myndB · raineC · fyndB · paineC
- 6 -A-A-A- is · throneA · blis · bemoneA · die · compassionA · miserie
- 7 A-ABCBC satisfydeA · seeks · pacifydeA · meekeB · longC · eekeB · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| “My little flock, whom earst I lov’d so well, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And wont to feed with finest grasse that grew, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Feede ye hencefoorth on bitter astrofell, | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| And stinking smallage, and unsaverie rew; | 11 | ·/˘/˘······ |
| And when your mawes are with those weeds corrupted, | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| Be ye the pray of wolves; ne will I rew | 10 | ·········· |
| That with your carkasses wild beasts be glutted. | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| “Ne worse to you, my sillie sheepe, I pray, | 10 | ·········· |
| Ne sorer vengeance wish on you to fall | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Than to my selfe, for whose confusde decay** | 10 | ········˘/ |
| To carelesse heavens I doo daylie call; | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| But heavens refuse to heare a wretches cry; | 11 | ·/˘/······· |
| And cruell Death doth scorn to come at call, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Or graunt his boone that most desires to dye. | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| “The good and righteous he away doth take, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| To plague th’unrighteous which alive remaine; | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| But the ungodly ones he doth forsake, | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| By living long to multiplie their paine; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Else surely death should be no punishment, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| As the Great Iudge at first did it ordaine, | 10 | ·········· |
| But rather riddance from long languishment. | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| “Therefore, my Daphne they have tane away; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| For worthie of a better place was she: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But me unworthie willed here to stay, | 10 | ······˘··· |
| That with her lacke I might tormented be. | 10 | ······/·˘· |
| Sith then they so have ordred, I will pay | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Penance to her, according their decree, | 10 | /˘··˘/˘·˘/ |
| And to her ghost doe service day by day. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| “For I will walke this wandring pilgrimage, | 11 | ·····/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Throughout the world from one to other end, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And in affliction waste my better age: | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| My bread shall be the anguish of my mynd, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| My drink the teares which fro mine eyes do raine, | 10 | ·········· |
| My bed the ground that hardest I may fynd; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| So will I wilfully increase my paine. | 10 | ···/˘˘˘/·· |
| “And she, my love that was, my saint that is, | 10 | ·········· |
| When she beholds from her celestiall throne | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘· |
| (In which shee ioyeth in eternall blis) | 9 | ·····˘/˘· |
| My bitter penance, will my case bemone, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| And pittie me that living thus doo die; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| For heavenly spirits have compassion | 10 | ·/˘˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| On mortall men, and rue their miserie. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| “So when I have with sorrow satisfyde | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Th’importune Fates which vengeance on me seeks, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And th’heavens with long languor pacifyde, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| She, for pure pitie of my sufferance meeke, | 11 | ·······/˘˘· |
| Will send for me; for which I daily long, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And will till then my painfull penance eeke, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Weepe, Shepheard! weepe, to make my undersong. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
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