Analysis of Two Gentlemen That Broke Their Promise

James Shirley 1596 (London) – 1666 (London)



There is no faith in claret, and it shall
Henceforth with me be held apocryphal.
I'll trust a small-beer promise, nay, a troth
Washed in the Thames, before a French wine oath.
That grape, they say, is binding; yes, 'tis so,
And it has made your souls thus costive too.
Circe transformed the Greeks; no hard design,
For some can do as much with claret wine
Upon themselves; witness you two, allowed
Once honest, now turned air, and à la mode.
Begin no health in this, or if by chance
The King's 'twill question your allegiance;
And men will, after all your ruffling, say
You drink as some do fight, in the French way:
Engage and trouble many, when 'tis known
You spread their interest to wave your own.
Away with this false Christian: it shall be
An excommunicate from mirth, and me;
Give me the Catholic diviner flame,
To light me to the fair Odelia's name;
'Tis sack that justifies both man and verse,
Whilst you in Lethe-claret still converse.
Forget your own names next; and when you look
With hope to find, be lost in the church-book.


Scheme ABCCDEFFGHIJKKLLMMNNOOPP
Poetic Form
Metre 111101011 1111110100 1101110101 1001010111 1111110111 011111111 101011101 111111111 0101101101 110111011 0111011111 011101010 01110111001 1111110011 0101010111 111101111 0111110111 10101101 1101011 11110111 111101101 11011110 0111110111 1111110011
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,047
Words 191
Sentences 8
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 24
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 802
Words per stanza (avg) 189
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

58 sec read
43

James Shirley

James Shirley (or Sherley) was an English dramatist. He belonged to the great period of English dramatic literature, but, in Charles Lamb's words, he "claims a place among the worthies of this period, not so much for any transcendent genius in himself, as that he was the last of a great race, all of whom spoke nearly the same language and had a set of moral feelings and notions in common." His career of play writing extended from 1625 to the suppression of stage plays by Parliament in 1642. more…

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