Poem VI
Lastly, I saw an Arke of purest goldeUpon a brazen pillour standing hie,Which th’ashes seem’d of some great prince to hold,Enclosde therein for endles memorieOf him whom all the world did glorifie:Seemed the heavens with the earth did disagree,Whether should of those ashes keeper bee.
At last me seem’d wing-footed Mercurie,From heaven descending to appease their strife,The arke did beare with him above the skie,And to those ashes gave a second life,To live in heaven, where happines is rife:At which the earth did grieve exceedingly,And I for dole was almost like to die.
Words in this poem
- lastly adv.
- In the last place; in conclusion.
- golde n.
- An old English name of some yellow flower, -- the marigold (Calendula), according to Dr. Prior, but in Chaucer perhaps the turnsole.
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- rife a.
- Prevailing; prevalent; abounding. [AS. rif abundant, or Icel. rifr munificent; akin to OD. riff, rijve, abundant.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Poem VI 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 VI, in Amoretti and Epithalamion, and Other Poems (1595), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10602, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/spenser-amoretti/poem-vi-2.html, id L23748.
Form and metre
Poem VI is 14 lines in 2 stanzas of 7 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 ABABBCC goldeA · hieB · holdA · memorieB · glorifieB · disagreeC · beeC
- 2 ABABB-- mercurieA · strifeB · skieA · lifeB · rifeB · exceedingly · die
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Lastly, I saw an Arke of purest golde | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Upon a brazen pillour standing hie, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Which th’ashes seem’d of some great prince to hold, | 10 | ·········· |
| Enclosde therein for endles memorie | 10 | ·········· |
| Of him whom all the world did glorifie: | 10 | ·········· |
| Seemed the heavens with the earth did disagree, | 10 | ··/˘····˘/ |
| Whether should of those ashes keeper bee. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| At last me seem’d wing-footed Mercurie, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| From heaven descending to appease their strife, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/·· |
| The arke did beare with him above the skie, | 10 | ·········· |
| And to those ashes gave a second life, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| To live in heaven, where happines is rife: | 10 | ···/······ |
| At which the earth did grieve exceedingly, | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| And I for dole was almost like to die. | 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.