Analysis of The lover describeth his restless state
Henry Howard 1517 – 1547
AS oft as I behold, and see
The sovereign beauty that me bound ;
The nigher my comfort is to me,
Alas ! the fresher is my wound.
As flame doth quench by rage of fire,
And running streams consume by rain ;
So doth the sight that I desire
Appease my grief, and deadly pain.
Like as the fly that see'th the flame,
And thinks to play her in the fire ;
That found her woe, and sought her game
Where grief did grow by her desire.
First when I saw those crystal streams,
Whose beauty made my mortal wound ;
I little thought within their beams
So sweet a venom to have found.
But wilful will did prick me forth,
Blind Cupid did me whip and guide ;
Force made me take my grief in worth ;1
My fruitless hope my harm did hide ;
Wherein is hid the cruel bit,
Whose sharp repulse none can resist ;
And eke the spur that strains each wit
To run the race against his list.
As cruel waves full oft be found
Against the rocks to roar and cry ;
So doth my heart full oft rebound
Against my breast full bitterly.
And as the spider draws her line,
With labour lost I frame my suit ;
The fault is her's, the loss is mine :
Of ill sown seed, such is the fruit.
I fall, and see mine own decay ;
As he that bears flame in his breast,
Forgets for pain to cast away
The thing that breedeth his unrest
Scheme | ABAB CDCD ECEC FBFB XGXG HIHI BXBA JKJK LMLM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (89%) |
Metre | 11110101 01010111 01110111 01010111 111111110 01010111 110111010 01110101 1101111101 011100010 11010101 111110010 11111101 11011101 11010111 11010111 1111111 11011101 11111101 11011111 01110101 11011101 01011111 11010111 11011111 01011101 11111101 01111100 01010101 1111111 01110111 11111101 11011101 11111011 01111101 0111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,248 |
Words | 252 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 109 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 29 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:16 min read
- 74 Views
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"The lover describeth his restless state" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17414/the-lover-describeth-his-restless-state>.
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