Analysis of Elegy V. He Compares the Turbulence of Love With the Tranquillity of Friendship
William Shenstone 1714 (Halesowen) – 1763 (Halesowen)
From Love, from angry Love's inclement reign
I pass awhile to Friendship's equal skies;
Thou, generous Maid! reliev'st my partial pain,
And cheer'st the victim of another's eyes.
'Tis thou, Melissa, thou deserv'st my care;
How can my will and reason disagree?
How can my passion live beneath despair?
How can my bosom sigh for aught but thee?
Ah! dear Melissa! pleased with thee to rove,
My soul has yet survived its dreariest time
Ill can I bear the various clime of Love!
Love is a pleasing, but a various clime.
So smiles immortal Maro's favourite shore,
Parthenope, with every verdure crown'd;
When straight Vesuvio's horrid cauldrons roar,
And the dry vapour blasts the regions round.
Oh, blissful regions, oh, unrivall'd plains,
When Maro to these fragrant haunts retired!
Oh, fatal realms, and oh, accursed domains,
When Pliny, 'mid sulphureous clouds, expired!
So smiles the surface of the treacherous main,
As o'er its waves the peaceful halcyons play;
When soon rude winds their wonted rule regain,
And sky and ocean mingle in the fray.
But let or air contend, or ocean rave,
Even Hope subside, amid the billows tost;
Hope, still emergent, still contemns the wave,
And not a feature's wonted smile is lost.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD XEXE FGFG HIHI AJAJ KGKX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 1111010101 110111101 1100111101 01101010101 110101111 1111010001 1111010101 1111011111 1101011111 111101111 11110100111 11010101001 11010111 1110011 1111011 001110101 11010111 1101110101 110101101 11011101 11010101001 1101101011 111111101 0101010001 1111011101 10101010101 110101101 01011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,197 |
Words | 206 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 136 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 29 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:05 min read
- 119 Views
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"Elegy V. He Compares the Turbulence of Love With the Tranquillity of Friendship" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 22 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41544/elegy-v.-he-compares-the-turbulence-of-love-with-the-tranquillity-of-friendship>.
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