Analysis of The Dirge
Henry King 1592 (Worminghall, Buckinghamshire) – 1669 (Chichester)
VVhat is th' Existence of Mans life?
But open war, or slumber'd strife.
Where sickness to his sense presents
The combat of the Elements:
And never feels a perfect Peace
Till deaths cold hand signs his release.
It is a storm where the hot blood
Out-vies in rage the boyling flood;
And each loud Passion of the mind
Is like a furious gust of wind,
Which beats his Bark with many a Wave
Till he casts Anchor in the Grave.
It is a flower which buds and growes,
And withers as the leaves disclose;
Whose spring and fall faint seasons keep,
Like fits of waking before sleep:
Then shrinks into that fatal mold
Where its first being was enroll'd.
It is a dream, whose seeming truth
Is moraliz'd in age and youth:
Where all the comforts he can share
As wandring as his fancies are;
Till in a mist of dark decay
The dreamer vanish quite away.
It is a Diall, which points out
The Sun-set as it moves about:
And shadowes out in lines of night
The subtile stages of times flight,
Till all obscuring earth hath laid
The body in perpetual shade.
It is a weary enterlude
Which doth short joyes, long woes include.
The World the Stage, the Prologue tears,
The Acts vain hope, and vary'd fears:
The Scene shuts up with loss of breath,
And leaves no Epilogue but Death.
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFFBGHHIIJJKLMMNNOOPPDQRSTT |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111010111 1101111 11011110 01010100 01010011 11111101 11011011 1101011 01110101 110100111 111111001 11110001 110101101 01010101 11011101 11110011 11011101 11110101 11011101 110101 11010111 1111101 10011101 01010101 1101111 01111101 0110111 0110111 11010111 010001001 110101 11111101 01010101 0111011 01111111 0111011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,258 |
Words | 236 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 36 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 981 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 234 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:12 min read
- 81 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Dirge" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17670/the-dirge>.
Discuss this Henry King poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In