Bliss I
All BlissConsists in this,To do as Adam did,And not to know those superficial ToysWhich in the Garden once were hid.Those little new-invented things,Cups, saddles, crowns are childish joys,So ribbands are and rings,Which all our happiness destroys.
About this text
Bliss I 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, Bliss I, in Poetical Works (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #61586, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/traherne-poems/bliss-i.html, id L13335.
Form and metre
Bliss I is 9 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes AABCBDCDC. 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.8 syllables. 22% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 AABCBDCDC blissA · thisA · didB · toysC · hidB · thingsD · joysC · ringsD · destroysC
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| All Bliss | 2 | ·· |
| Consists in this, | 4 | ˘/·· |
| To do as Adam did, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And not to know those superficial Toys | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Which in the Garden once were hid. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Those little new-invented things, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Cups, saddles, crowns are childish joys, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| So ribbands are and rings, | 6 | ······ |
| Which all our happiness destroys. | 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.