Section: «Poems»
Verse (ancient Greek ὁ στίχος — row, structure), a term in versification used in several meanings:
artistic speech organized by division into rhythmically commensurate segments; poetry in the narrow sense; in particular, it implies the properties of versification of a particular tradition ("antique verse", "Akhmatova's verse", etc.);
a line of poetic text organized according to a certain rhythmic pattern ("My uncle of the most honest rules").
The Anniversary
ALL kings, and all their favourites,All glory of honours, beauties, wits,The sun it self, which makes time, as they pass,Is elder by a year now than..
© John Donne
Oh My Blacke Soule! Now Thou Art Summoned
Oh my black Soule! Now thou art summonedBy sicknesse, deaths herald, and champion;Thou art like a pilgrim, which abroad hath doneTreason, and durst..
© John Donne
Elegy Xvii: On His Mistress
By our first strange and fatal interview,By all desires which thereof did ensue,By our long starving hopes, by that remorseWhich my words masculine..
© John Donne
The Curse
Whoever guesses, thinks, or dreams, he knowsWho is my mistress, wither by this curse ;Him, only for his purseMay some dull whore to love dispose,And..
© John Donne
A Self Accuser
Your mistress, that you follow whores, still taxethyou ;'Tis strange that she should thus confess it, though 't be true.
© John Donne
Love's Diet
To what a cumbersome unwieldinessAnd burdenous corpulence my love had grown,But that I did, to make it less,And keep it in proportion,Give it a diet..
© John Donne
To George Herbert,
SENT HIM WITH ONE OF MY SEALS OF THEANCHOR AND CHRIST.QUI prius assuetus serpentum fasce tabellasSignare, hæc nostræ symbola parva domus,Adscitus..
© John Donne
The Will
Before I sigh my last gasp, let me breathe,Great Love, some legacies ; I here bequeathMine eyes to Argus, if mine eyes can see ;If they be blind..
© John Donne
Love's Growth
I scarce believe my love to be so pureAs I had thought it was,Because it doth endureVicissitude, and season, as the grass ;Methinks I lied all..
© John Donne
A Sheaf Of Snakes Used Heretofore To Be My Seal, The Crest Of Our Poor Family
ADOPTED in God's family and soOur old coat lost, unto new arms I go.The Cross—my seal at baptism—spread belowDoes, by that form, into an Anchor..
© John Donne
Community
Good we must love, and must hate ill,For ill is ill, and good good still ;But there are things indifferent,Which wee may neither hate, nor love,But..
© John Donne
A Dialogue Between Sir Henry Wootton And Mr. Donne
[W.]IF her disdain least change in you can move,You do not love,For when that hope gives fuel to the fire,You sell desire.Love is not love, but given..
© John Donne
Holy Sonnet Viii: If Faithfull Soules
If faithfull soules be alike glorifi'dAs Angels, then my fathers soul doth see,And adds this even to full felecitie,That valiantly I hels wide mouth..
© John Donne
Holy Sonnet Xii: Why Are We
Why are wee by all creatures waited on?Why doe the prodigall elements supplyLife and food to mee, being more pure than I,Simple, and further from..
© John Donne
Holy Sonnets: Since She Whom I Lov'D Hath Paid Her Last Debt
Since she whom I lov'd hath paid her last debtTo nature, and to hers, and my good is dead,And her soul early into heaven ravished,Wholly in heavenly..
© John Donne
Holy Sonnet Xi: Spit In My Face You Jewes
Spit in my face you Jewes, and pierce my side,Buffet, and scoffe, scourge, and crucifie mee,For I have sinn'd, and sinn'd, and onely hee,Who could do..
© John Donne
Holy Sonnet Xvi: Father
Father, part of his double interestUnto thy kingdome, thy Sonne gives to mee,His joynture in the knottie TrinitieHee keepes, and gives to me his..
© John Donne
Holy Sonnet Iii: O Might Those Sighes
O might those sighes and teares returne againeInto my breast and eyes, which I have spent,That I might in this holy discontentMourne with some fruit..
© John Donne
A Licentious Person
Thy sins and hairs may no man equal call ;For, as thy sins increase, thy hairs do fall.
© John Donne
Holy Sonnet Vii: At The Round Earth's
At the round earths imagin'd corners, blowYour trumpets, Angells, and arise, ariseFrom death, you numberlesse infinitiesOf soules, and to your..
© John Donne
Holy Sonnet Xii: Why Are We By All Creatures Waited On?
Why are we by all creatures waited on?Why do the prodigal elements supplyLife and food to me, being more pure than I,Simple, and further from..
© John Donne
Elegy Vi
Oh, let me not serve so, as those men serveWhom honour's smokes at once fatten and starve;Poorly enrich't with great men's words or looks;Nor so..
© John Donne
Holy Sonnet Xvi: Father, Part Of His Double Interest
Father, part of his double interestUnto thy kingdom, thy Son gives to me,His jointure in the knotty TrinityHe keeps, and gives to me his death's..
© John Donne
Holy Sonnet Xv: Wilt Thou Love God, As He Thee? Then Digest
Wilt thou love God, as he thee? Then digest,My soul, this wholesome meditation,How God the Spirit, by angels waited onIn heaven, doth make his Temple..
© John Donne
Satire Iv
Well; I may now receive, and die. My sinIndeed is great, but yet I have been inA purgatory, such as fear'd hell isA recreation and scant map of..
© John Donne