On Mr John Fletcher's Works
So shall we joy, when all whom beasts and wormsHave turn'd to their own substances and forms:Whom earth to earth, or fire hath changed to fire,We shall behold more than at first entire;As now we do to see all thine thy ownIn this my Muse's resurrection,Whose scatter'd parts from thy own race more woundsHath suffer'd than Actæon from his hounds;Which first their brains, and then their belly fed,And from their excrements new poets bred.But now thy Muse enragèd, from her urn,Like ghosts of murder'd bodies, does returnT' accuse the murderers, to right the stage,And undeceive the long-abusèd age,Which casts thy praise on them, to whom thy witGives not more gold than they give dross to it;Who not content, like felons, to purloin,Add treason to it, and debase the coin.But whither am I stray'd? I need not raiseTrophies to thee from other men's dispraise;Nor is thy fame on lesser ruins built,Nor needs thy juster title the foul guiltOf eastern kings, who, to secure their reign,Must have their brothers, sons, and kindred slain.Then was wit's empire at the fatal height,When labouring and sinking with its weight,From thence a thousand lesser poets sprung,Like petty princes from the fall of Rome;When Jonson, Shakespeare, and thyself, did sit,And sway'd in the triumvirate of wit.Yet what from Jonson's oil and sweat did flow,Or what more easy Nature did bestowOn Shakespeare's gentler Muse, in thee full grownTheir graces both appear, yet so that noneCan say, Here nature ends, and art begins;But mix'd like th'elements, and born like twins,So interwove, so like, so much the same,None this mere nature, that mere art can name:'Twas this the ancients meant; nature and skillAre the two tops of their Parnassus' hill.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- resurrection n.
- A rising again; the resumption of vigor. [F. résurrection, L. resurrectio, fr. resurgere, resurrectum, to rise again; pref. re- re- + surgere to rise. See Source.]
- undeceive v. t.
- To cause to be no longer deceived; to free from deception, fraud, fallacy, or mistake. South. [1st pref. un- + deceive.]
- purloin v. t.
- To take or carry away for one's self; hence, to steal; to take by theft; to filch. [OF. purloignier, porloignier, to retard, delay; pur, por, pour, for (L. pro) + loin far, far off (L. longe). See Prolong, and cf. Eloign.]
- whither adv.
- To what place; -- used interrogatively; as, whither goest thou [OE. whider. AS. hwider; akin to E. where, who; cf. Goth. hvadre whither. See Who, and cf. Hither, Thither.]
- dispraise v. t.
- To withdraw praise from; to notice with disapprobation or some degree of censure; to disparage; to blame. [OE. dispreisen, OF. desprisier, despreisier, F. dépriser; pref. des- (L. dis-) + prisier, F. priser, to prize, praise. See Praise, and cf. Disprize, Depreciate.]
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- labouring a.
- That labors; performing labor; esp., performing coarse, heavy work, not requiring skill also, set apart for labor; as, laboring days.
- triumvirate n.
- Government by three in coalition or association; the term of such a government. [L. triumviratus: cf. F. triumvirat.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On Mr John Fletcher's Works is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poetical Works of Edmund Waller and Sir John Denham, Project Gutenberg ebook #12322; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edmund Waller, On Mr John Fletcher's Works, in Cooper's Hill, and Other Poems (1645–1668), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waller-denham/on-mr-john-fletcher-s-works.html, id L09159.
Form and metre
On Mr John Fletcher's Works is 40 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 75% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 28% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 --AABB--CCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ----KKLL--MMNNOO worms · forms · fireA · entireA · ownB · resurrectionB · wounds · hounds · fedC · bredC · urnD · returnD · stageE · ageE · witF · itF · purloinG · coinG · raiseH · dispraiseH · builtI · guiltI · reignJ · slainJ · height · weight · sprung · rome · sitK · witK · flowL · bestowL · grown · none · beginsM · twinsM · sameN · nameN · skillO · hillO
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 |
|---|---|---|
| So shall we joy, when all whom beasts and worms | 10 | ·········· |
| Have turn'd to their own substances and forms: | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Whom earth to earth, or fire hath changed to fire, | 11 | ·····/···/˘ |
| We shall behold more than at first entire; | 11 | ··˘/····˘/˘ |
| As now we do to see all thine thy own | 10 | ·········· |
| In this my Muse's resurrection, | 9 | ···/˘·˘/˘ |
| Whose scatter'd parts from thy own race more wounds | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Hath suffer'd than Actæon from his hounds; | 9 | ·/˘·/˘··· |
| Which first their brains, and then their belly fed, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And from their excrements new poets bred. | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| But now thy Muse enragèd, from her urn, | 9 | ········· |
| Like ghosts of murder'd bodies, does return | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| T' accuse the murderers, to right the stage, | 10 | ·˘/·/˘···· |
| And undeceive the long-abusèd age, | 9 | ········· |
| Which casts thy praise on them, to whom thy wit | 10 | ·········· |
| Gives not more gold than they give dross to it; | 10 | ·········· |
| Who not content, like felons, to purloin, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| Add treason to it, and debase the coin. | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| But whither am I stray'd? I need not raise | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Trophies to thee from other men's dispraise; | 10 | /˘···/˘·˘/ |
| Nor is thy fame on lesser ruins built, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Nor needs thy juster title the foul guilt | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Of eastern kings, who, to secure their reign, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| Must have their brothers, sons, and kindred slain. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Then was wit's empire at the fatal height, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| When labouring and sinking with its weight, | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| From thence a thousand lesser poets sprung, | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| Like petty princes from the fall of Rome; | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| When Jonson, Shakespeare, and thyself, did sit, | 10 | ·/˘/··˘/·· |
| And sway'd in the triumvirate of wit. | 10 | ····˘/˘˘·· |
| Yet what from Jonson's oil and sweat did flow, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Or what more easy Nature did bestow | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| On Shakespeare's gentler Muse, in thee full grown | 10 | ·/·/˘····· |
| Their graces both appear, yet so that none | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| Can say, Here nature ends, and art begins; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| But mix'd like th'elements, and born like twins, | 10 | ·········· |
| So interwove, so like, so much the same, | 10 | ·········· |
| None this mere nature, that mere art can name: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| 'Twas this the ancients meant; nature and skill | 10 | ···/˘·/˘·· |
| Are the two tops of their Parnassus' hill. | 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.