Poem V
Then did I see a Bridge, made all of golde,Over the sea from one to other side,Withouten prop or pillour it t’upholde,But like the coloured rainbowe arched wide:Not that great arche which Traian edifide,To be a wonder to all age ensuing,Was matchable to this in equall vewing.
But ah! what bootes it to see earthlie thingIn glorie or in greatnes to excell,Sith time doth greatest things to ruine bring?This goodlie bridge, one foote not fastned well,Gan faile, and all the rest downe shortlie fell,Ne of so brave a building ought remained,That griefe thereof my spirite greatly pained.
Words in this poem
- golde n.
- An old English name of some yellow flower, -- the marigold (Calendula), according to Dr. Prior, but in Chaucer perhaps the turnsole.
- coloured a.
- Having color; tinged; dyed; painted; stained.
- matchable a.
- Capable of being matched; comparable on equal conditions; adapted to being joined together; correspondent.
- 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.]
- sith prep.
- Since; afterwards; seeing that. [See Since.]
- ought p. p.
- Was or were under obligation to pay; owed. [Orig. the preterit of the verb to owe. OE. oughte, aughte, ahte, AS. ahte. sq. root110. See Owe.]
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.html, id L23741.
Form and metre
Poem V 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 84%).
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 goldeA · sideB · t'upholdeA · wideB · edifideB · ensuingC · vewingC
- 2 ABABBCC thingA · excellB · bringA · wellB · fellB · remainedC · painedC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Then did I see a Bridge, made all of golde, | 10 | ·········· |
| Over the sea from one to other side, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Withouten prop or pillour it t’upholde, | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| But like the coloured rainbowe arched wide: | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Not that great arche which Traian edifide, | 9 | ········· |
| To be a wonder to all age ensuing, | 11 | ···/˘···/˘˘ |
| Was matchable to this in equall vewing. | 11 | ·/˘˘···/˘·· |
| But ah! what bootes it to see earthlie thing | 10 | ·········· |
| In glorie or in greatnes to excell, | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| Sith time doth greatest things to ruine bring? | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| This goodlie bridge, one foote not fastned well, | 10 | ········˘· |
| Gan faile, and all the rest downe shortlie fell, | 10 | ·········· |
| Ne of so brave a building ought remained, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| That griefe thereof my spirite greatly pained. | 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.