Poem V
Still as I gazed, I beheld where stoodA Knight all arm’d, upon a winged steed,The same that was bred of Medusaes blood,On which Dan Perseus, borne of heavenly seed,The faire Andromeda from perill freed:Full mortally this knight ywounded was,That streames of blood foorth flowed on the gras.
Yet was he deckt (small ioy to him, alas!)With manie garlands for his victories,And with rich spoyles, which late he did purchasThrough brave atcheivements from his enemies:Fainting at last through long infirmities,He smote his steed, that straight to heaven him bore,And left me here his losse for to deplore.
Words in this poem
- steed n.
- A horse, especially a spirited horse for state of war; -- used chiefly in poetry or stately prose. [OE. stede, AS. steda a stud-horse, war horse, fr. stod a stud of breeding steeds; akin to G. stute a mare, Icel. stedda, sto, a stud. *163. See Stud of horses.]
- perseus n.
- A Grecian legendary hero, son of Jupiter and Danaë, who slew the Gorgon Medusa.
- andromeda n.
- A northern constellation, supposed to represent the mythical Andromeda.
- perill v. i.
- To be in danger.
- mortally adv.
- In a mortal manner; so as to cause death; as, mortally wounded.
- manie n.
- Mania; insanity. [F. See Mania.]
- losse n.
- Praise. See Loos.
- deplore v. t.
- To feel or to express deep and poignant grief for; to bewail; to lament; to mourn; to sorrow over. [L. deplorare; de- + plorare to cry out, wail, lament; prob. akin to pluere to rain, and to E. flow: cf. F. déplorer. Cf. Flow.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Poem V 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 V, in Amoretti and Epithalamion, and Other Poems (1595), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10602, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/spenser-amoretti/poem-v-2.html, id L23747.
Form and metre
Poem V is 14 lines in 2 stanzas of 7 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%).
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 ABABB-- stoodA · steedB · bloodA · seedB · freedB · was · gras
- 2 -----AA alas · victories · purchas · enemies · infirmities · boreA · deploreA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Still as I gazed, I beheld where stood | 10 | ····˘·˘/·· |
| A Knight all arm’d, upon a winged steed, | 10 | ········˘· |
| The same that was bred of Medusaes blood, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| On which Dan Perseus, borne of heavenly seed, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The faire Andromeda from perill freed: | 10 | ··˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| Full mortally this knight ywounded was, | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| That streames of blood foorth flowed on the gras. | 10 | ······˘··· |
| Yet was he deckt (small ioy to him, alas!) | 10 | ········˘/ |
| With manie garlands for his victories, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| And with rich spoyles, which late he did purchas | 10 | ·········· |
| Through brave atcheivements from his enemies: | 11 | ········/˘˘ |
| Fainting at last through long infirmities, | 10 | /˘····˘/˘˘ |
| He smote his steed, that straight to heaven him bore, | 10 | ·······/·· |
| And left me here his losse for to deplore. | 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.