Speed
The liquid pearl in springs,The useful and the precious thingsAre in a moment known.Their very glory does reveal their worth(And that doth set their glory forth);As soon as I was born they all were shewn.
True living wealth did flowIn crystal streams belowMy feet, and trilling downIn pure, transparent, soft, sweet, melting pleasures,Like precious and diffusive treasures,At once my body fed, and soul did crown.
I was as high and greatAs Kings are in their seat.All other things were mine.The world my house, the creatures were my goods,Fields, mountains, valleys, woods,Men and their arts to make me rich combine.
Great, lofty, endless, stable,Various and Innumerable,Bright, useful, fair, divine.Immovable and sweet the treasures were,The sacred objects did appearMore rich and beautiful, as well as mine.
New all! new-burnisht joys;Tho' now by other toysEclipst: new all and mine.Great Truth so sacred seemed for this to me,Because the things which I did seeWere such, my state I knew to be divine.
Nor did the Angels' faces,The glories and the graces,The beauty, peace and joyOf Heaven itself, more sweetness yield to me.Till filthy sin did all destroyThose were the offspring of the Deity.
Words in this poem
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- trilling n.
- One of tree children born at the same birth. Wright. [Cf. G. drilling.]
- diffusive a.
- Having the quality of diffusing; capable of spreading every way by flowing; spreading widely; widely reaching; copious; diffuse. [Cf. F. diffusif.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Speed 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, Speed, in Poetical Works (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #61586, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/traherne-poems/speed.html, id L13310.
Form and metre
Speed is 36 lines in 6 stanzas of 6 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is AABCCB, in 2 of the 6 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.9 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 31% 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 AA---- springsA · thingsA · known · worth · forth · shewn
- 2 AABCCB flowA · belowA · downB · pleasuresC · treasuresC · crownB
- 3 --ABBA great · seat · mineA · goodsB · woodsB · combineA
- 4 --A--A stable · innumerable · divineA · were · appear · mineA
- 5 AABCCB joysA · toysA · mineB · meC · seeC · divineB
- 6 AAB-B- facesA · gracesA · joyB · me · destroyB · deity
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The liquid pearl in springs, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The useful and the precious things | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Are in a moment known. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Their very glory does reveal their worth | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/·· |
| (And that doth set their glory forth); | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| As soon as I was born they all were shewn. | 10 | ·········· |
| True living wealth did flow | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| In crystal streams below | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| My feet, and trilling down | 6 | ···/˘· |
| In pure, transparent, soft, sweet, melting pleasures, | 11 | ··˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Like precious and diffusive treasures, | 9 | ·/˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| At once my body fed, and soul did crown. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| I was as high and great | 6 | ······ |
| As Kings are in their seat. | 6 | ······ |
| All other things were mine. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The world my house, the creatures were my goods, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Fields, mountains, valleys, woods, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Men and their arts to make me rich combine. | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Great, lofty, endless, stable, | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| Various and Innumerable, | 9 | /˘˘·˘/˘˘˘ |
| Bright, useful, fair, divine. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Immovable and sweet the treasures were, | 10 | ˘/˘˘···/˘· |
| The sacred objects did appear | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘·˘/ |
| More rich and beautiful, as well as mine. | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| New all! new-burnisht joys; | 6 | ······ |
| Tho' now by other toys | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Eclipst: new all and mine. | 6 | ······ |
| Great Truth so sacred seemed for this to me, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Because the things which I did see | 8 | ········ |
| Were such, my state I knew to be divine. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Nor did the Angels' faces, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| The glories and the graces, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| The beauty, peace and joy | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Of Heaven itself, more sweetness yield to me. | 10 | ·/˘/·/˘··· |
| Till filthy sin did all destroy | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Those were the offspring of the Deity. | 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.