Here we have a table-text for Lok’s poem, replicated from page 166 of Petrarch and the English Sonnet Sequences by Thomas P. Roche, Jr. (New York: AMS Press, 1989). In an Appendix on page 549, Roche also provides the text of two Latin mottos that surround the square. In my diagram below I have, for simplicity, placed these mottos (and translations) at the top and bottom of the square. In Roche’s Appendix G, he points out a complex structure of squares and pillars and crosses forming smaller poems within the ten-by-ten square. For example, the pillars down from E and F read:

God makes kings rule for heaue[n]s; your state hold blest

And still stand will their shields; fear yields best rest. [Roche, p. 550]

One may also discover a five line poem with four words in each line by tracing the sequence of squares 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and using the corner-words. One of the crosses is indicated by grey shading in the diagram and the verse is revealed by starting with “Rare” and tracing down beneath the letter A, then, in the fifth line going left to the border of the square—and continuing to trace the left half of the grey-shaded central cross down to the bottom of the diagram—then jumping up to B and further continuing from “Grace” to trace down and right through the right-half of the cross, ending on “Builds.” The three words prior to “Builds” may be enclosed in parentheses as an aside.

Haec Quadrata Firma Forma (This square is a strong form)
God 5	Hath	pourd	forth	Rare	Grace	On	This	Isle–	And 5
Makes	cround 4	your	rule	Queene	In	the	same	So 4	still
Kings	lawd	THis 3	saint	Faire	that	wish	truth 3	doth	stand
Rule	so	long	time 2	milde	Prince	Ioy 2	land	it	will
For	proofe	you	showes	1 wise	1 of	earths	race	whome	There
Heaues	haue	vp	held	Iust 1	choice 1	whome	God	thus	sheilds
Your	stocke	of	Kings 2	worlds	rich	of 2	spring	and	feare
States	fame	Knows 3	farre	Praise	Isle	which	ALl 3	blisse	yeilds
Hold	God 4	there	fore	sure	stay	of	all	the 4	Best
Blest 5	is	your	raigne	Here	Builds	sweet	Peace	true	Rest 5
In Hoc Signo Vinces (In this Sign You Will Conquer)

Raturn to Mathematics in Poetry  article JoAnne Growney’s HOME page