Thou couldst wouldst

[irinaofr]

For the first twenty years since yesterday
I scarce believed thou couldst be gone away;
For forty more I fed on favors past,
And forty on hopes that thou wouldst they might last.
Tears drowned one hundred, and sighs blew out two,
A thousand, I did neither think nor do,
Or not divide, all being one thought of you,
Or in a thousand more forgot that too.
Yet call not this long life, but think that I
Am, by being dead, immortal. Can ghosts die?


I can't understand this "....that thou wouldst they might last".
Is it a mistake there?

I read it as "....that you would they might last" and it doesn't sound right.

What would you say, please?

Thank you.

 

[Rover_KE]

Please cite the source and author of your quotation.

 

[irinaofr]

John Donne
I saw it online and copied from there.
It is called "Computation".

 

[GoesStation]

Thou wouldst they might last could mean, in modern English, "you wish that they have an opportunity to continue to exist."

 

[irinaofr]

"You wish they might last" sounds fine

So, "wouldst" is for "wish" and "would"?

Many thanks.

 

[GoesStation]

I was impressed by the economy of words in Donne's poem. He exchanged comprehensibility for brevity.

 

[Tarheel]

It's beautiful.