From Tamburlaine the Great, Part One ("Nature that framed us of four elements")
From Tamburlaine the Great, Part One ("Nature that framed us of four elements")
Original Text
Tamburlaine the Great (London: Printed by Richard Jones, 1590) sig. Cv / STC (2nd ed.) 17425
2Warring within our breast for regiment,
3Doth teach us all to have aspiring minds:
4Our souls, whose faculties can comprehend
5The wondrous architecture of the world
6And measure every wandering planet’s course,
7Still climbing after knowledge infinite
10Until we reach the ripest fruit of all,
11That perfect bliss and sole felicity,
12The sweet fruition of an earthly crown.
Notes
1] As Tamburlaine’s military conquests multiply, he locates the source of human ambition in the unstable ordering of Nature’s elements. Back to Line
8] spheres: concentric crystalline orbs in ancient astronomy whose perpetual motion around the stationary earth was said to generate celestial music. Back to Line
9] wear: "to sap the strength or energy of (a person, his faculties, etc.) by toil" (OED v.1, 10a) Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1590
RPO poem Editors
Christopher Matusiak
RPO Edition
2011
Form