what does cam'st mean?

Question

in terms of poetry...

Answer 1

There is a term called poetic justice which means you can misspell or even make up a word to make a rhyme.

Answer 2

It is a contraction of the word "camest"
We are all familiar with the I, you, he, she, it, we and they forms of verbs. But in earlier English, there was a familiar singular pronoun "thou".

I came
thou camest (in this case for poetry, cam'st to make it 1 syllable)
he came

we came
you came
they came

Not used any longer, the pronoun "thou" was most often used for one person who was fairly close to the speaker.

(Just as a side note, many Christian prayers still use "thou" and "thy" when referring to God.)

Here's an example:
Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.
Deuteronomy 16:3

Answer 3

Is it came?