{
 "id": "john-henry-newman/monks",
 "title": "Monks",
 "ordinal": "XVI",
 "subtitle": "For Another Small Album",
 "poet": "John Henry Newman",
 "poet_slug": "john-henry-newman",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Verses on Various Occasions",
 "book_slug": "verses-on-various-occasions",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 16,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1903,
  "venue": "Verses on Various Occasions (1903)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/a600744000newmuoft"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/john-henry-newman_verses-on-various-occasions",
  "file": "verses-on-various-occasions.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "http://www.newmanreader.org/works/verses",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009038168",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48927",
   "https://archive.org/details/dreamofgerontius01newmuoft"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 80,
  "n_stanzas": 5,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 32,
  "max_indent": 8
 },
 "site_ready": true,
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Why, dear Cousin,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "why",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "Ask for verses,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "when a poet’s",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "fount of song is",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "dry?",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "Or, if aught be",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "there,",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "Harsh and chill, it",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "ill may touch the",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "hand of lady",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "fair.",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "Who can perfumed waters",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "bring",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "From a convent",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "spring?",
    "indent": 8
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Monks in the olden",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "time,",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "“They were rhymesters?”⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "they were rhymesters,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "but in Latin",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "rhyme.",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "Monks in the days of",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "old",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "Lived in secret,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "in the Church’s",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "kindly-sheltering",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "fold.",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "No bland meditators",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "they",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "Of a courtly",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "lay.",
    "indent": 8
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“They had visions",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "bright?”⁠—",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "they had visions,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "yet not sent in",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "slumbers soft and",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "light.",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "No! a lesson",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "stern",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "First by vigils,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "fast, and penance",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "theirs it was to",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "learn.",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "This their soul-ennobling",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "gain,",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "Joys wrought out by",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "pain.",
    "indent": 8
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“When from home they",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "stirr’d,",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "“Sweet their voices?”⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "still, a blessing",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "closed their merriest",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "word;",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "And their gayest",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "smile",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "Told of musings",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "solitary,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "and the hallow’d",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "aisle.",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "“Songsters?”⁠—hark! they answer!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "round",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "Plaintive chantings",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "sound!",
    "indent": 8
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Grey his cowlèd",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "vest,",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "Whose strong heart has",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "pledged his service",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "to the cloister",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "blest.",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "Duly garb’d is",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "he,",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "As the frost-work",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "gems the branches",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "of yon stately",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "tree.",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "’Tis a danger-thwarting",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "spell,",
    "indent": 8
   },
   {
    "text": "And it fits me",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "well!",
    "indent": 8
   }
  ]
 ]
}