Analysis of The Change
Henry King 1592 (Worminghall, Buckinghamshire) – 1669 (Chichester)
Il sabio mude conseio: Il loco persevera.
We lov'd as friends now twenty years and more:
Is't time or reason think you to give o're?
When though two prentiships set Jacob free,
I have not held my Rachel dear at three.
Yet will I not your levitie accuse;
Continuance sometimes is the worse abuse.
In judgment I might rather hold it strange,
If like the fleeting world, you did not change:
Be it your wisdom therefore to retract,
When perseverance oft is follies act.
In pity I can think, that what you do
Hath Justice in't, and some Religion too;
For of all vertues Morall or Divine,
We know but Love none must in Heaven shine:
Well did you the presumption then foresee
Of counterfeiting immortalitie:
Since had you kept our loves too long alive,
We might invade Heavens prerogative;
Or in our progress, like the Jews, comprise
The Legend of an earthly Paradise.
Live happy and more prosperous in the next,
You have discharg'd your old friend by the Text.
Farewel fair Shadow of a female faith,
And let this be our friendships Epitaph:
Affection shares the frailty of our fate,
When (like our selves) 'tis old and out of date:
'Tis just all humane Loves their period have,
When friends are frail and dropping to the grave:
Scheme | A AAAAXXBBCCDDEEXCXXXXFFXXGGXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111101 1111110101 111110111111 11111101 1111110111 11111101 01000110101 0101110111 1101011111 111101101 101011101 0101111111 11001010101 11111101 1111110101 1110010101 11001 11111011101 1101100100 1010110101 010111010 11001100001 1101111101 1111011 0111101010 01010101101 11101110111 11101111001 1111010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,229 |
Words | 221 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 28 |
Lines Amount | 29 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 481 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 110 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:07 min read
- 43 Views
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"The Change" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17667/the-change>.
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