Analysis of Fragment Of An Epistle To Thomas Moore
George Gordon Lord Byron 1788 (London) – 1824 (Missolonghi, Aetolia)
'What say I?'--not a syllable further in prose;
I'm your man 'of all measures,' dear Tom,--so here goes!
Here goes, for a swim on the stream of old Time,
On those buoyant supporters, the bladders of rhyme.
If our weight breaks them down, and we sink in the flood,
We are smother'd, at least, in respectable mud,
Where the Divers of Bathos lie drown'd in a heap,
And Southey's last Pæan has pillow'd his sleep;
That Felo de se,' who, half drunk with his malmsey,
Walk'd out of his depth and was lost in a calm sea,
Singing 'Glory to God' in a spick and span stanza,
The like (since Tom Sternhold was choked) never man saw.
The papers have told you, no doubt, of the fusses,
The fetes, and the gapings to get at these Russes,--
Of his Majesty's suite, up from coachman to Hetman,
And what dignity decks the flat face of the great man.
I saw him, last week, at two balls and a party,--
For a prince, his demeanour was rather too hearty.
You know we are used to quite different graces,
The Czar's look, I own, was much brighter and brisker,
But then he is sadly deficient in whisker;
And wore but a starless blue coat, and in kersey--
Mere breeches whisk'd round, in a waltz with the Jersey,
Who lovely as ever, seem'd just as delighted
With Majesty's presence as those she invited.
Scheme | AABBCCDDAEXX FAXXEEF GGEECC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111101001001 111111011111 11101101111 111001001111 1101111011001 111011001001 10101111001 011111111 1111111111 111110110011 1010110010110 01111111011 010111111010 0100111111 1110011111110 0110010111011 111111110010 10111110110 111111110010 011111110010 111110010010 01101110010 11110011010 110110111010 110010111010 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,282 |
Words | 249 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 7, 6 |
Lines Amount | 25 |
Letters per line (avg) | 39 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 321 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 80 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:17 min read
- 113 Views
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"Fragment Of An Epistle To Thomas Moore" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15097/fragment-of-an-epistle-to-thomas-moore>.
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