The Teares of the Muses
Rehearse to me, ye sacred Sisters nine,The golden brood of great Apolloes wit,Those piteous plaints and sorowfull sad tineWhich late ye powred forth as ye did sitBeside the silver springs of Helicone,Making your musick of hart-breaking mone!
For since the time that Phoebus foolish sonne,Ythundered, through loves avengefull wrath,For traversing the charret of the SunneBeyond the compasse of his pointed path,Of you, his mournfull sisters, was lamented,Such mournfull tunes were never since invented.
Nor since that faire Calliope did loseHer loved twinnes, the dearlings of her ioy,Her Palici, whom her unkindly foes,The Fatall Sisters, did for spight destroy,Whom all the Muses did bewaile long space,Was ever heard such wayling in this place.
For all their groves, which with the heavenly noysesOf their sweete instruments were wont to sound,And th’hollow hills, from which their silver voycesWere wont redoubled echoes to rebound,Did now rebound with nought but rufull cries,And yelling shrieks throwne up into the skies.
The trembling streames which wont in chanels cleareTo romble gently downe with murmur soft,And were by them right tunefull taught to beareA bases part amongst their consorts oft;Now forst to overflowe with brackish teares,With troublous noyse did dull their daintie eares.
The ioyous Nymphes and lightfoote FaëriesWhich thether came to heare their musick sweet,And to the measure of their melodiesDid learne to move their nimble-shifting feete,Now hearing them so heavily lament,Like heavily lamenting from them went.
And all that els was wont to worke delightThrough the divine infusion of their skill,And all that els seemd faire and fresh in sight,So made by nature for to serve their will,Was turned now to dismall heavinesse,Was turned now to dreadfull uglinesse.
Ay me! what thing on earth, that all thing breeds,Might be the cause of so impatient plight?What furie, or what feend, with felon deedsHath stirred up so mischievous despight?Can griefe then enter into heavenly harts,And pierce immortall breasts with mortall smarts?
Vouchsafe ye then, whom onely it concernes,To me those secret causes to display;For none but you, or who of you it learnes,Can rightfully aread so dolefull lay.Begin, thou eldest sister of the crew,And let the rest in order thee ensew.
Words in this poem 21
- phoebus n.
- Apollo; the sun god.
- sonne n.
- A male child; the male issue, or offspring, of a parent, father or mother. [OE. sone, sune, AS. sunu; akin to D. zoon, OS., OFries., & OHG. sunu, G. sohn, Icel. sonr, Sw. son, Dan. sön, Goth. sunus, Lith. sunus, Russ. suin', Skr. sunu (]
- mournfull a.
- Full of sorrow; expressing, or intended to express, sorrow; mourning; grieving; sad; also, causing sorrow; saddening; grievous; as, a mournful person; mournful looks, tones, loss.
- lamented a.
- Mourned for; bewailed.
- calliope n.
- The Muse that presides over eloquence and heroic poetry; mother of Orpheus, and chief of the nine Muses.
- unkindly a.
- Not kindly; unkind; ungracious.
- fatall a.
- Proceeding from, or appointed by, fate or destiny; necessary; inevitable. [L. fatalis, fr. fatum: cf. F. fatal. See Fate.]
- spight n.
- A woodpecker. See Speight.
- tunefull a.
- Harmonious; melodious; musical; as, tuneful notes.
- amongst prep.
- Mixed or mingled; surrounded by. [OE. amongist, amonges, amonge, among, AS. onmang, ongemang, gemang, in a crowd or mixture. For the ending -st see Amidst. See Mingle.]
- troublous a.
- Full of trouble; causing trouble.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- dismall a.
- Fatal; ill-omened; unlucky. [Formerly a noun; e. g., "I trow it was in the dismalle." Chaucer. Of uncertain origin; but perh. (as suggested by Skeat) from OF. disme, F. dîme, tithe, the phr]
- dreadfull a.
- Full of dread or terror; fearful.
- plight v. t.
- To weave; to braid; to fold; to plait. [OE. pliten; probably through Old French, fr. LL. plectare, L. plectere. See Plait, Ply.]
- immortall a.
- Not mortal; exempt from liability to die; undying; imperishable; lasting forever; having unlimited, or eternal, existance. [L. immortalis; pref. im- not + mortalis mortal: cf. F. immortel. See Mortal, and cf. Immortelle.]
- 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.]
- vouchsafe v. t.
- To condescend to grant; to concede; to bestow. [Vouch + safe, that is, to vouch or answer for safety.]
- rightfully adv.
- According to right or justice.
- aread v. t.
- To tell, declare, explain, or interpret; to divine; to guess; as, to aread a riddle or a dream. [OE. areden, AS. ar to interpret. See Read.]
- dolefull a.
- Full of dole or grief; expressing or exciting sorrow; sorrowful; sad; dismal.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Teares of the Muses 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, The Teares of the Muses, in Amoretti and Epithalamion, and Other Poems (1595), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10602, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/spenser-amoretti/the-teares-of-the-muses.html, id L23750.
Form and metre
The Teares of the Muses is 54 lines in 9 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 5 of its 9 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 ABABCC nineA · witB · tineA · sitB · heliconeC · moneC
- 2 -A-ABB sonne · wrathA · sunne · pathA · lamentedB · inventedB
- 3 ----AA lose · ioy · foes · destroy · spaceA · placeA
- 4 ABABCC noysesA · soundB · voycesA · reboundB · criesC · skiesC
- 5 ABAB-- cleareA · softB · beareA · oftB · teares · eares
- 6 ABABCC faëriesA · sweetB · melodiesA · feeteB · lamentC · wentC
- 7 ABABCC delightA · skillB · sightA · willB · heavinesseC · uglinesseC
- 8 ABABCC breedsA · plightB · deedsA · despightB · hartsC · smartsC
- 9 ABAB-- concernesA · displayB · learnesA · layB · crew · ensew
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Rehearse to me, ye sacred Sisters nine, | 10 | ˘/···/˘/˘· |
| The golden brood of great Apolloes wit, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Those piteous plaints and sorowfull sad tine | 11 | ·/˘˘······· |
| Which late ye powred forth as ye did sit | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Beside the silver springs of Helicone, | 10 | ˘/·/˘····· |
| Making your musick of hart-breaking mone! | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| For since the time that Phoebus foolish sonne, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Ythundered, through loves avengefull wrath, | 10 | ·········· |
| For traversing the charret of the Sunne | 10 | ·˘/˘······ |
| Beyond the compasse of his pointed path, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Of you, his mournfull sisters, was lamented, | 11 | ···/˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Such mournfull tunes were never since invented. | 11 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Nor since that faire Calliope did lose | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Her loved twinnes, the dearlings of her ioy, | 10 | ··˘······· |
| Her Palici, whom her unkindly foes, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| The Fatall Sisters, did for spight destroy, | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| Whom all the Muses did bewaile long space, | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| Was ever heard such wayling in this place. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| For all their groves, which with the heavenly noyses | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Of their sweete instruments were wont to sound, | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| And th’hollow hills, from which their silver voyces | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Were wont redoubled echoes to rebound, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Did now rebound with nought but rufull cries, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| And yelling shrieks throwne up into the skies. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The trembling streames which wont in chanels cleare | 10 | ·/˘····˘/· |
| To romble gently downe with murmur soft, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| And were by them right tunefull taught to beare | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| A bases part amongst their consorts oft; | 10 | ·/˘····˘/· |
| Now forst to overflowe with brackish teares, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| With troublous noyse did dull their daintie eares. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The ioyous Nymphes and lightfoote Faëries | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| Which thether came to heare their musick sweet, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And to the measure of their melodies | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| Did learne to move their nimble-shifting feete, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Now hearing them so heavily lament, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘˘/ |
| Like heavily lamenting from them went. | 10 | ·/˘˘˘/˘··· |
| And all that els was wont to worke delight | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Through the divine infusion of their skill, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| And all that els seemd faire and fresh in sight, | 10 | ·········· |
| So made by nature for to serve their will, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Was turned now to dismall heavinesse, | 10 | ··˘··/˘··· |
| Was turned now to dreadfull uglinesse. | 10 | ··˘··/˘··· |
| Ay me! what thing on earth, that all thing breeds, | 10 | ·········· |
| Might be the cause of so impatient plight? | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| What furie, or what feend, with felon deeds | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Hath stirred up so mischievous despight? | 10 | ··˘··/˘˘·· |
| Can griefe then enter into heavenly harts, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And pierce immortall breasts with mortall smarts? | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Vouchsafe ye then, whom onely it concernes, | 10 | ˘/···/˘·˘/ |
| To me those secret causes to display; | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| For none but you, or who of you it learnes, | 10 | ·········· |
| Can rightfully aread so dolefull lay. | 10 | ·/˘˘···/˘· |
| Begin, thou eldest sister of the crew, | 10 | ˘/·/˘/˘··· |
| And let the rest in order thee ensew. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
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