Analysis of Tobacco
George Wither 1588 (Bentworth) – 1667
The Indian weed, withered quite,
Green at noon, cut down at night,
Shows thy decay; all flesh is hay,
Thus thinke, then drinke tobacco.
The pipe that is so lily-white,
Shows thee to be a mortal wight;
And even such, gone with a touch,
Thus thinke, then drinke tobacco.
And when the smoke ascends on high,
Thinke thou beholdest the vanity
Of worldly stuffe, gone with a puffe,
Thus thinke, then drinke tobacco.
And when the pipe grows foul within,
Think on thy soule defil'd with sin,
And then the fire it doth require.
Thus thinke, then drinke tobacco.
The ashes that are left behind,
May serve to put thee still in mind,
That unto dust return thou must.
Thus thinke, then drinke tobacco.
Scheme | aaxB aaxB cxcB ddxB eexB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (25%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 01001101 1111111 11011111 111101 01111101 11110101 01011101 111101 01010111 1110100 11011101 111101 01011101 1111111 010101110 111101 01011101 11111101 11010111 111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 679 |
Words | 126 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 107 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 38 sec read
- 109 Views
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"Tobacco" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/15841/tobacco>.
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