Analysis of To Seraphina

James Thomson 1700 (Port Glasgow) – 1748 (London)



The wanton's charms, however bright,
Are like the false illusive light
Whose flattering unauspicious blaze
To precipices oft betrays:
But that sweet ray your beauties dart,
Which clears the mind, and cleans the heart,
Is like the sacred queen of night,
Who pours a lovely gentle light
Wide o'er the dark, by wanderers blest,
Conducting them to peace and rest.
A vicious love depraves the mind,
'Tis anguish, guilt, and folly joined;
But Seraphina's eyes dispense
A mild and gracious influence;
Such as in visions angels shed
Around the heaven-illumined head.
To love thee, Seraphina, sure
Is to be tender, happy, pure;
'Tis from low passions to escape,
And woo bright virtue's fairest shape;
'Tis ecstasy with wisdom joined;
And heaven infused into the mind.


Scheme AABBCCAADDEFGHIIJJKKFE
Poetic Form
Metre 011101 11010101 110011 11101 11111101 11010101 11010111 11010101 1100111001 01011101 0101101 11010101 11101 01010100 11010101 010100101 11100101 11110101 11110101 0111101 11001101 010010101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 747
Words 127
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 22
Lines Amount 22
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 601
Words per stanza (avg) 125
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

39 sec read
46

James Thomson

James Thomson, who wrote under the pseudonym Bysshe Vanolis, was a Scottish Victorian-era poet famous primarily for the long poem The City of Dreadful Night, an expression of bleak pessimism in a dehumanized, uncaring urban environment. more…

All James Thomson poems | James Thomson Books

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