Analysis of The Innocent Thief
William Cowper 1731 (Berkhamsted) – 1800 (Dereham)
Not a flower can be found in the fields,
Or the spot that we till for our pleasure,
From the largest to the least, but it yields
The bee never wearied a treasure.
Scarce any she quits unexplored
With a diligence truly exact;
Yet, steal what she may for her hoard
Leaves evidence none of the fact.
Her lucrative task she pursues,
And pilfers with so much address,
That none of their odour they lose,
Nor charm by their beauty the less.
Not thus inoffensively preys
The cankerworm, in-dwelling foe!
His voracity not thus allays
The sparrow, the finch, or the crow.
The worm, more expensively fed,
The pride of the garden devours;
And birds peck the seed from the bed,
Still less to be spared than the flowers.
But she with such delicate skill
Her pillage so fits for her use,
That the chemist in vain with his still
Would labour the like to produce.
Then grudge not her temperate meals,
Nor a benefit blame as a theft;
Since, stole she not all that she steals,
Neither honey nor wax would be left.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ KLKL MNMN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Traditional rhyme Quatrain |
Metre | 1010111001 10111111010 1010101111 011010010 1101101 101001001 11111101 11001101 01001101 0101111 1111111 11111001 1111 010101 101001101 01001101 0111001 011010010 01101101 111111010 11111001 01011101 101001111 1101101 1110101 101001101 11111111 101011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 976 |
Words | 186 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 112 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 55 sec read
- 99 Views
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