Analysis of Virtue

George Herbert 1593 (Montgomery) – 1633 (Bemerton)



Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright
The bridal of the earth and sky:
The dew shall weep thy fall tonight,
For thou must die.

Sweet rose, whose hue, angry and brave,
Bids the rash gazer wipe his eyes:
Thy root is ever in its grave,
And thou must die.

Sweet spring, full of sweet days and roses,
A box where sweets compacted lie:
My music shows ye have your closes,
And all must die.

Only a sweet and virtuous soul,
LIke seasoned timber, never gives;
But though the whole world turn to coal.
Then chiefly lives.


Scheme ABAB CXCB DBDB EFEF
Poetic Form Quatrain  (75%)
Metre 11111111 01010101 01111101 1111 11111001 1011111 11110011 0111 111111010 01110101 110111110 0111 100101001 11010101 11011111 1101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 505
Words 100
Sentences 6
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 98
Words per stanza (avg) 25
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 20, 2023

30 sec read
225

George Herbert

The Very Reverend Honourable George Herbert was an Anglican priest. more…

All George Herbert poems | George Herbert Books

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