Analysis of Fair Iris I Love and Hourly I Die

John Dryden 1631 (Aldwincle) – 1631 (London)



Fair Iris I love and hourly I die,
   But not for a lip nor a languishing eye:
   She's fickle and false, and there I agree;
   For I am as false and as fickle as she:
   We neither believe what either can say;
   And, neither believing, we neither betray.

'Tis civil to swear and say things, of course;
   We mean not the taking for better or worse.
   When present we love, when absent agree;
  I think not of Iris, nor Iris of me:
  The legend of love no couple can find
  So easy to part, or so equally join'd.


Scheme AABBCC XXBBXX
Poetic Form
Metre 1101101011 11101101001 1100101101 11111011011 1100111011 01001011001 1101101111 11101011011 1101111001 11111011011 0101111011 11011111001
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 515
Words 100
Sentences 4
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 6, 6
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 31
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 185
Words per stanza (avg) 49
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 13, 2023

30 sec read
179

John Dryden

John Dryden was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who was made Poet Laureate in 1668. more…

All John Dryden poems | John Dryden Books

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