Another
He seeks for ours as we do seek for His;Nay, O my Soul, ours is far more His blissThan His is ours; at least it so doth seemBoth in His own and our esteem:
His earnest love, His infinite desires,His living, endless, and devouring fires,Do rage in thirst and fervently requireA love 'tis strange it should desire.
We cold and careless are, and scarcely thinkUpon the glorious spring whereat we drink.Did He not love us we could be content:We wretches are indifferent!
He courts our love with infinite esteem,And seeks it so that it doth almost seemEven all His blessedness. His love doth prizeIt as the only Sacrifice.
'Tis death, my soul, to be indifferent,Set forth thyself unto thy whole extent,And all the glory of His passion prize,Who for thee lives, who for thee dies.
His goodness made thy love so great a pleasure,His goodness made thy soul so great a treasureTo thee and Him: that thou mightst both inherit,Prize it according to its merit.
There is no goodness nor desert in thee,For which thy love so coveted should be;His goodness is the fountain of thy worth;O live to love and set it forth.
Thou nothing giv'st to Him, He gave all thingsTo thee, and made thee like the King of Kings:His love the fountain is of Heaven and Earth,The cause of all thy joy and mirth.
Thy love is nothing but itself, and yetSo infinite is His that He doth setA value infinite upon it. Oh!This, canst thou careless be, and know!
Let that same goodness, which being infinite,Esteems thy love with infinite delight,Tho' less than His, tho' nothing, always beAn object infinite to thee.
And as it is the cause of all esteem,Of all the worth which in thy love doth seem,So let it be the cause of all thy pleasure,Causing its being and its treasure.
Words in this poem
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- whereat adv.
- At which; upon which; whereupon; -- used relatively.
- blessedness n.
- The state of being blessed; happiness; felicity; bliss; heavenly joys; the favor of God.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Another is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Thomas Traherne, 1636?-1674, from the original manuscripts, Project Gutenberg ebook #61586; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Traherne, Another, in Poetical Works (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #61586, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/traherne-poems/another.html, id L13320.
Form and metre
Another is 44 lines in 11 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 7 of its 11 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.7 syllables. 13 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 --AA his · bliss · seemA · esteemA
- 2 AABB desiresA · firesA · requireB · desireB
- 3 AA-- thinkA · drinkA · content · indifferent
- 4 AA-- esteemA · seemA · prize · sacrifice
- 5 AABB indifferentA · extentA · prizeB · diesB
- 6 AABB pleasureA · treasureA · inheritB · meritB
- 7 AA-- theeA · beA · worth · forth
- 8 AABB thingsA · kingsA · earthB · mirthB
- 9 AABB yetA · setA · ohB · knowB
- 10 AABB infiniteA · delightA · beB · theeB
- 11 AABB esteemA · seemA · pleasureB · treasureB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| He seeks for ours as we do seek for His; | 10 | ···/······ |
| Nay, O my Soul, ours is far more His bliss | 10 | ····/····· |
| Than His is ours; at least it so doth seem | 10 | ···/······ |
| Both in His own and our esteem: | 9 | ·····/˘˘/ |
| His earnest love, His infinite desires, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘˘˘/˘ |
| His living, endless, and devouring fires, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘/ |
| Do rage in thirst and fervently require | 11 | ·····/˘˘˘/˘ |
| A love 'tis strange it should desire. | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| We cold and careless are, and scarcely think | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Upon the glorious spring whereat we drink. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Did He not love us we could be content: | 10 | ········/˘ |
| We wretches are indifferent! | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| He courts our love with infinite esteem, | 10 | ··/··/˘˘˘/ |
| And seeks it so that it doth almost seem | 10 | ·······/·· |
| Even all His blessedness. His love doth prize | 10 | /··/˘˘···· |
| It as the only Sacrifice. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| 'Tis death, my soul, to be indifferent, | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Set forth thyself unto thy whole extent, | 10 | ··˘/····˘/ |
| And all the glory of His passion prize, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Who for thee lives, who for thee dies. | 8 | ········ |
| His goodness made thy love so great a pleasure, | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| His goodness made thy soul so great a treasure | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| To thee and Him: that thou mightst both inherit, | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| Prize it according to its merit. | 9 | ··˘/˘··/˘ |
| There is no goodness nor desert in thee, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| For which thy love so coveted should be; | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| His goodness is the fountain of thy worth; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| O live to love and set it forth. | 8 | ········ |
| Thou nothing giv'st to Him, He gave all things | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| To thee, and made thee like the King of Kings: | 10 | ·········· |
| His love the fountain is of Heaven and Earth, | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| The cause of all thy joy and mirth. | 8 | ········ |
| Thy love is nothing but itself, and yet | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| So infinite is His that He doth set | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| A value infinite upon it. Oh! | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘···· |
| This, canst thou careless be, and know! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Let that same goodness, which being infinite, | 11 | ···/˘·/˘/˘˘ |
| Esteems thy love with infinite delight, | 10 | ˘/···/˘˘˘/ |
| Tho' less than His, tho' nothing, always be | 10 | ·····/˘/·· |
| An object infinite to thee. | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| And as it is the cause of all esteem, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Of all the worth which in thy love doth seem, | 10 | ·········· |
| So let it be the cause of all thy pleasure, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Causing its being and its treasure. | 9 | /˘·/˘··/˘ |
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.