The Enquiry
Men may delighted be with springs,While trees and herbs their senses please,And taste even living nectar in the seas:May think their members thingsOf earthly worth at least, if not divine,And sing because the earth for them doth shine:
But can the Angels take delight,To see such faces here beneath?Or can perfumes indeed from dung-hills breathe?Or is the world a sightWorthy of them? Then may we mortals beSurrounded with eternal Clarity.
Even holy angels may come downTo walk on Earth, and see delights,That feed and please, even here, their appetites.Our joys may make a crownFor them. And in His Tabernacle men may beLike palms we mingled with the Cherubs see.
Men's senses are indeed the gems,Their praises the most sweet perfumes,Their eyes the thrones, their hearts the Heavenly rooms,Their souls the diadems,Their tongues the organs which they love to hear,Their cheeks and faces like to theirs appear.
The wonders which our God hath done,The glories of His attributes,Like dangling apples or like golden fruits,Angelic joys become.His wisdom shines on Earth; His love doth flow,Like myrrh or incense, even here below.
And shall not we such joys possess,Which God for man did chiefly make?The Angels have them only for our sake!And yet they all confessHis glory here on Earth to be divine,And that His Godhead in His works doth shine.
Words in this poem
- delighted a.
- Endowed with delight.
- clarity n.
- Clearness; brightness; splendor. [L. claritas, fr. clarus clear: cf. F. clarté.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Enquiry 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, The Enquiry, in Poetical Works (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #61586, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/traherne-poems/the-enquiry.html, id L13314.
Form and metre
The Enquiry is 36 lines in 6 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABBACC, complete in 4 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.8 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% 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 ABBACC springsA · pleaseB · seasB · thingsA · divineC · shineC
- 2 A--A-- delightA · beneath · breathe · sightA · be · clarity
- 3 ABBACC downA · delightsB · appetitesB · crownA · beC · seeC
- 4 ABBACC gemsA · perfumesB · roomsB · diademsA · hearC · appearC
- 5 -AA-BB done · attributesA · fruitsA · become · flowB · belowB
- 6 ABBACC possessA · makeB · sakeB · confessA · divineC · shineC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Men may delighted be with springs, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| While trees and herbs their senses please, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And taste even living nectar in the seas: | 10 | ··//˘/˘··· |
| May think their members things | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Of earthly worth at least, if not divine, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| And sing because the earth for them doth shine: | 10 | ·········· |
| But can the Angels take delight, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| To see such faces here beneath? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Or can perfumes indeed from dung-hills breathe? | 10 | ··˘/˘/···· |
| Or is the world a sight | 6 | ······ |
| Worthy of them? Then may we mortals be | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Surrounded with eternal Clarity. | 10 | ˘/˘·˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Even holy angels may come down | 9 | /˘/˘/˘··· |
| To walk on Earth, and see delights, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| That feed and please, even here, their appetites. | 10 | ····/··/˘· |
| Our joys may make a crown | 7 | /˘····· |
| For them. And in His Tabernacle men may be | 12 | ·····/˘·˘··· |
| Like palms we mingled with the Cherubs see. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Men's senses are indeed the gems, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Their praises the most sweet perfumes, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Their eyes the thrones, their hearts the Heavenly rooms, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Their souls the diadems, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Their tongues the organs which they love to hear, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Their cheeks and faces like to theirs appear. | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| The wonders which our God hath done, | 9 | ·/˘·/˘··· |
| The glories of His attributes, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Like dangling apples or like golden fruits, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Angelic joys become. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| His wisdom shines on Earth; His love doth flow, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Like myrrh or incense, even here below. | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| And shall not we such joys possess, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Which God for man did chiefly make? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The Angels have them only for our sake! | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·/· |
| And yet they all confess | 6 | ····˘/ |
| His glory here on Earth to be divine, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| And that His Godhead in His works doth shine. | 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.