Fullness
That light, that sight, that thought,Which in my soul at first He wrought,Is sure the only act to which I mayAssent to-day:The mirror of an endless life,The shadow of a virgin wife,A spiritual world standing within,An Universe enclosed in skin,My power exerted, or my perfect Being,If not enjoying, yet an act of seeing.My blissConsists in this,My duty tooIn this I view.It is a fountain or a spring,Refreshing me in everything.From whence those living streams I do derive,By which my thirsty soul is kept alive.The centre and the sphereOf my delights are here.It is my David's towerWhere all my armour lies,The fountain of my power,My bliss, my sacrifice:A little sparkThat shining in the dark,Makes and encourages my soul to rise,The root of hope, the golden chain,Whose end is, as the poets feign,Fastened to the very throneOf Jove.It is a stone,On which I sit,An endless benefit,That being made my regal throne,Doth proveAn Oracle of His Eternal Love.
Words in this poem
- derive v. t.
- To turn the course of, as water; to divert and distribute into subordinate channels; to diffuse; to communicate; to transmit; -- followed by to, into, on, upon. [F. dériver, L. derivare; de- + rivus stream, brook. See Rival.]
- centre v. i.
- To be placed in a center; to be central.
- armour n.
- Defensive arms for the body; any clothing or covering worn to protect one's person in battle. [OE. armure, fr. F. armure, OF. armeure, fr. L. armatura. See Armature.]
- jove n.
- The chief divinity of the ancient Romans; Jupiter. [L. Jupiter, gen. Jovis, OL. Jovis, nom. & gen. for Djovis; akin to E. Tuesday. See Tuesday, and cf. Jupiter.]
- oracle v. i.
- To utter oracles.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Fullness 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, Fullness, in Poetical Works (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #61586, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/traherne-poems/fullness.html, id L13307.
Form and metre
Fullness is 37 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 65% of the lines. 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.8 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 22% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets.
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJK-K-LL-MMN-NOONPP thoughtA · wroughtA · mayB · dayB · lifeC · wifeC · withinD · skinD · beingE · seeingE · blissF · thisF · tooG · viewG · springH · everythingH · deriveI · aliveI · sphereJ · hereJ · towerK · lies · powerK · sacrifice · sparkL · darkL · rise · chainM · feignM · throneN · jove · stoneN · sitO · benefitO · throneN · proveP · loveP
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 |
|---|---|---|
| That light, that sight, that thought, | 6 | ······ |
| Which in my soul at first He wrought, | 8 | ········ |
| Is sure the only act to which I may | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Assent to-day: | 4 | ˘/·· |
| The mirror of an endless life, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The shadow of a virgin wife, | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| A spiritual world standing within, | 10 | ·/˘˘˘·/˘·· |
| An Universe enclosed in skin, | 9 | ·/˘·˘/˘·· |
| My power exerted, or my perfect Being, | 11 | ·/˘/˘··/·/˘ |
| If not enjoying, yet an act of seeing. | 11 | ··˘/˘····/˘ |
| My bliss | 2 | ·· |
| Consists in this, | 4 | ˘/·· |
| My duty too | 4 | ·/˘· |
| In this I view. | 4 | ···· |
| It is a fountain or a spring, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Refreshing me in everything. | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| From whence those living streams I do derive, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| By which my thirsty soul is kept alive. | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| The centre and the sphere | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Of my delights are here. | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| It is my David's tower | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Where all my armour lies, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The fountain of my power, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| My bliss, my sacrifice: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| A little spark | 4 | ·/˘· |
| That shining in the dark, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Makes and encourages my soul to rise, | 10 | ··˘/˘˘···· |
| The root of hope, the golden chain, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Whose end is, as the poets feign, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Fastened to the very throne | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Of Jove. | 2 | ·· |
| It is a stone, | 4 | ···· |
| On which I sit, | 4 | ···· |
| An endless benefit, | 6 | ·/˘/˘˘ |
| That being made my regal throne, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Doth prove | 2 | ·· |
| An Oracle of His Eternal Love. | 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.