Concerning The Philosophers Stone. ( Alchemical Verse .) Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BBCDEEDDFFGGHHIIJJII KKKKJJKKJJKKJJKKLLJJ DDKKKKDDKKKKGGKKGGGG GGGGFFGGKMIGGJJNOJJO ODDKKIIJJIMIIDDGGJJJ JKKOOFFJJFFKKKKGGKKD DJJGGJJKKKKFFOOKKGGG GKKKKJJDDKKGGKCKKJKG GKKKKGGFFKKKJFFA | |
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And also with great diligence | B |
Thei fonde thilke Experience | B |
Which cleped is Alconomie | C |
Whereof the Silver multiplie | D |
Thei made and eke the Gold also | E |
And for to telle howe itt is so | E |
Of bodies seven in Speciall | D |
With fowre Spirites joynt withall | D |
Stant the substance of this matere | F |
The bodies which I speke of here | F |
Of the Plannets ben begonne | G |
The Gold is titled to the Sonne | G |
The Moone of Silver hath hi part | H |
And Iron that stonde uppon Mart | H |
The Leed after Saturne groweth | I |
And Jupiter the Brasse bestoweth | I |
The Copper sette is to Venus | J |
And to his part Mercurius | J |
Hath the Quicksilver as it falleth | I |
The which after the Boke it calleth | I |
Is first of thilke foure named | K |
Of Spirits which be proclymed | K |
And the Spirite which is seconde | K |
In Sal Armoniake is founde | K |
The third Spirite Sulphur is | J |
The fourth Sewende after this | J |
Arcennium by name is hotte | K |
With blowyng and with fires hote | K |
In these things which I say | J |
Thei worchen by divers waye | J |
For as the Philosopher tolde | K |
Of Gold and Sylver thei ben holde | K |
Two Principall extremitees | J |
To which all other by degrees | J |
Of the mettals ben accordant | K |
And so through kinde resemblant | K |
That what man couth awaie take | L |
The rust of which they waxen blake | L |
And And the favour of the hardnes | J |
Thei shulden take the likeness | J |
Of Gold or Silver parfectly | D |
Bot for to worche it sykerly | D |
Between the Corps and the Spirite | K |
Er that the Metall be parfite | K |
In seven forms itt is sette | K |
Of all and if one be lette | K |
The remnant may not avayle | D |
But otherwise it maie nought fayle | D |
For thei by whome this Arte was founde | K |
To every poynt a certayne bounde | K |
Ordeinen that a man may finde | K |
This Craft is wrought by wey of kinde | K |
So that there is no fallace in | G |
But what man that this werke begyn | G |
He mote awaite at every tyde | K |
So that nothynge be left asyde | K |
Fyrst of Distillacion | G |
Forth with the Cogelacion | G |
Solucion Disscencion | G |
And kepe in his entencion | G |
The poynt of Sublimacion | G |
And forthwith Calcinacion | G |
Of very Approbacion | G |
So that there be Fixacion | G |
With temperate hetes of fyer | F |
Tyll he the perfite Elixer | F |
Of thilke Philosophers Stone | G |
Maie gette of which that many one | G |
Of Philosophers whilome write | K |
Of thilke Stone with other two | M |
Which as the Clerkes maden tho | I |
So as the Bokes itt recorden | G |
The kinde of hem I shall recorden | G |
These old Philosophers wise | J |
By wey of kynde in sondry wise | J |
Thre Stones made through Clergie | N |
The fyrst I shall specifie | O |
Was cleped Vegetabilis | J |
Of which the proper vertue is | J |
To mans heale to serve | O |
As for to keepe and to preserve | O |
The body fro sickness all | D |
Till death of kinde upon hym fall | D |
The second Stone I the behote | K |
Is Lapis Animalis hote | K |
The whose vertue is proper and couth | I |
For Eare and Eye Nose and Mouth | I |
Whereof a man may here and see | J |
And smell and tast in his degree | J |
And for to feele and for to goe | I |
Itt helpeth a man of both two | M |
The witts five he undersongeth | I |
To keepe as it to hym belongeth | I |
The third Stone in speciall | D |
by name is cleped Minerall | D |
Which the Mettalls of every myne | G |
Attempreth till that thei ben fyne | G |
And pureth hem by such a wey | J |
That all the vice goth awey | J |
Of Rust of Stynke and of Hardnes | J |
And when they ben of such clennes | J |
This minerall so as I fynde | K |
Transformeth all the fyrst kynde | K |
And maketh hem able to conceive | O |
Through his vertue and receive | O |
Both in substance and in figure | F |
Of Gold and Silver the nature | F |
For thei two ben the extremitees | J |
To which after the propertees | J |
Hath every mettall his desire | F |
With helpe and comforte of the fyre | F |
Forth with this Stone as it is said | K |
Which to the Sonne and Moone is laide | K |
For to the Red and to the White | K |
This Stone hath power to profite | K |
It maketh Multiplicacion | G |
Of Gold and the fixacion | G |
It causeth and of this babite | K |
He doth the werke to be parfite | K |
Of thilke Elixer which me call | D |
Alconomy as is befalle | D |
To hem that whilome were wise | J |
But now it stant all otherwise | J |
Thei speken fast of thilke Stone | G |
But how to make it now wote none | G |
After the sooth Experience | J |
And nathles greate diligence | J |
Thei setten up thilke dede | K |
And spillen more then thei spede | K |
For alwey thei fynde a lette | K |
Which bringeth in povertee and Dette | K |
To hem that rich were to fore | F |
The Losse is had the Lucre is lore | F |
To gette a pound thei spendeth five | O |
I not how such a Craft shall thrive | O |
In the manner as it is used | K |
It were better be refused | K |
Then for to worchen upon wene | G |
In thinge which stant not ast thei wene | G |
But not for thy who that it knew | G |
The Science of himselfe is trew | G |
Uppon the forme as it was founded | K |
Whereof the names yett be grounded | K |
Of hem that first it founden out | K |
And thus the fame goth all about | K |
To such as soughten besines | J |
Of vertue and worthines | J |
Of whom if I the names call | D |
Hermes was one the first of all | D |
To whom this Art is most applied | K |
Geber thereof was magnified | K |
And Ortolane and Morien | G |
Among the which is Avicen | G |
Which founde and wrote and greate partie | K |
The practicke of Alconomie | C |
Whose bokes plainlie as thei stonde | K |
Uppon this Craft few understonde | K |
But yet to put hem in assay | J |
There be full manie now a day | K |
That knowen litle that thei mene | G |
It is not one to wite and wene | G |
In forme of words thei it trete | K |
But yet thei failen of beyet | K |
For of to much or of to lite | K |
There is algate found a wite | K |
So that thei follow not the line | G |
Of the perfect Medicine | G |
Which grounded is upon nature | F |
But thei that written the Scripture | F |
Of Greke Arabe and Caldee | K |
Thei were of such Auctoritee | K |
That thei firste founden out the wey | K |
Of all that thou hast herd me sey | J |
Whereof the Cronicke of her Lore | F |
Shall stonde in price for evermore | F |
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John Gower
(1)
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