Upon Her Majesty's New Buildings at Somerset House
Great Queen! that does our island blessWith princes and with palaces;Treated so ill, chased from your throne,Returning you adorn the Town;And, with a brave revenge, do showTheir glory went and came with you.
While peace from hence and you were gone,Your houses in that storm o'erthrown,Those wounds which civil rage did give,At once you pardon, and relieve.
Constant to England in your love,As birds are to their wonted grove,Though by rude hands their nests are spoil'd,There the next spring again they build.
Accusing some malignant star,Not Britain, for that fatal war,Your kindness banishes your fear,Resolved to fix for ever here.But what new mine this work supplies?Can such a pile from ruin rise?This, like the first creation, showsAs if at your command it rose.
Frugality and bounty too(Those diff'ring virtues), meet in you;From a confined, well-managed store,You both employ and feed the poor.
Let foreign princes vainly boastThe rude effects of pride, and costOf vaster fabrics, to which theyContribute nothing but the pay;This, by the Queen herself design'd,Gives us a pattern of her mind;The state and order does proclaimThe genius of that Royal Dame.Each part with just proportion graced,And all to such advantage placed,That the fair view her window yields,The town, the river, and the fields,Ent'ring, beneath us we descry,And wonder how we came so high.
She needs no weary steps ascend;All seems before her feet to bend;And here, as she was born, she lies;High, without taking pains to rise.
'Somerset House': Henrietta, Queen-mother, who returned to Englandin 1660, and lived in Somerset House, which she greatly improved.'Ever here': she left, however, in 1665.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- relieve v. t.
- To lift up; to raise again, as one who has fallen; to cause to rise. Piers Plowman. [OE. releven, F. relever to raise again, discharge, relieve, fr. L. relevare to lift up, raise, make light, relieve; pref. re- re- + levare to raise, fr. levis l]
- wonted a.
- Accustomed; customary; usual.
- bounty n.
- Goodness, kindness; virtue; worth. [OE. bounte goodness, kindness, F. bonté, fr. L. bonitas, fr. bonus good, for older duonus; cf. Skr. duvas honor, respect.]
- dame n.
- A mistress of a family, who is a lady; a womam in authority; especially, a lady. [F. dame, LL. domna, fr. L. domina mistress, lady, fem. of dominus master, ruler, lord; akin to domare to tame, subdue. See Tame, and cf. Dam mother, Dan, Danger]
- graced a.
- Endowed with grace; beautiful; full of graces; honorable.
- descry
- , Discovery or view, as of an army seen at a distance.
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- somerset n.
- A leap in which a person turns his heels over his head and lights upon his feet; a turning end over end. [Written also summersault, sommerset, summerset, etc.] [F. soubresaut a jump, leap, OF. soubresault, It. soprassalto an overleap, fr. L. supra over + saltus a leap, fr. salire to leap; or the French may be from Sp. s]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Upon Her Majesty's New Buildings at Somerset House 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, Upon Her Majesty's New Buildings at Somerset House, in Poetical Works (1645–1668), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/waller-denham/upon-her-majesty-s-new-buildings-at-somerset-house.html, id L09061.
Form and metre
Upon Her Majesty's New Buildings at Somerset House is 47 lines in 8 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 51% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.5 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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.
- 4 --AABBCC star · war · fearA · hereA · suppliesB · riseB · showsC · roseC
- 5 AA-- tooA · youA · store · poor
- 6 --AABBCCDDEEFF boast · cost · theyA · payA · design'dB · mindB · proclaimC · dameC · gracedD · placedD · yieldsE · fieldsE · descryF · highF
- 7 AABB ascendA · bendA · liesB · riseB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Great Queen! that does our island bless | 9 | ····/˘/˘· |
| With princes and with palaces; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Treated so ill, chased from your throne, | 9 | /˘···˘··· |
| Returning you adorn the Town; | 8 | ˘/˘·˘/·· |
| And, with a brave revenge, do show | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Their glory went and came with you. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| While peace from hence and you were gone, | 8 | ········ |
| Your houses in that storm o'erthrown, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Those wounds which civil rage did give, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| At once you pardon, and relieve. | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Constant to England in your love, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| As birds are to their wonted grove, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Though by rude hands their nests are spoil'd, | 8 | ········ |
| There the next spring again they build. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Accusing some malignant star, | 8 | ˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Not Britain, for that fatal war, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Your kindness banishes your fear, | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
| Resolved to fix for ever here. | 9 | ˘/˘···/˘· |
| But what new mine this work supplies? | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Can such a pile from ruin rise? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| This, like the first creation, shows | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| As if at your command it rose. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Frugality and bounty too | 8 | ˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| (Those diff'ring virtues), meet in you; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| From a confined, well-managed store, | 10 | ··˘/˘·/˘˘· |
| You both employ and feed the poor. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Let foreign princes vainly boast | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| The rude effects of pride, and cost | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Of vaster fabrics, to which they | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Contribute nothing but the pay; | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| This, by the Queen herself design'd, | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| Gives us a pattern of her mind; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The state and order does proclaim | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The genius of that Royal Dame. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Each part with just proportion graced, | 9 | ····˘/˘·˘ |
| And all to such advantage placed, | 9 | ····˘/˘·˘ |
| That the fair view her window yields, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The town, the river, and the fields, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Ent'ring, beneath us we descry, | 9 | /˘˘····˘/ |
| And wonder how we came so high. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| She needs no weary steps ascend; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| All seems before her feet to bend; | 8 | ········ |
| And here, as she was born, she lies; | 8 | ········ |
| High, without taking pains to rise. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| 'Somerset House': Henrietta, Queen-mother, who returned to England | 17 | /˘···˘/˘·/˘·˘/·/˘ |
| in 1660, and lived in Somerset House, which she greatly improved. | 14 | ····/˘····/˘˘/ |
| 'Ever here': she left, however, in 1665. | 9 | /˘····/˘· |
Notes from the edition 1
George Gilfillan's notes to the Poetical Works of Edmund Waller and Sir John Denham (1857; Project Gutenberg #12322).
- Stanza 4, line 4 'Ever here': she left, however, in 1665.
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