Analysis of A dialogue between Sir Henry Wootton and Mr. Donne

John Donne 1572 (London) – 1631 (London)



IF her disdain least change in you can move,
You do not love,
For when that hope gives fuel to the fire,
You sell desire.
Love is not love, but given free ;
And so is mine ; so should yours be.

Her heart, that weeps to hear of others' moan,
To mine is stone.
Her eyes, that weep a stranger's eyes to see,
Joy to wound me.
Yet I so well affect each part,
As—caused by them—I love my smart.

Say her disdainings justly must be graced
With name of chaste ;
And that she frowns lest longing should exceed,
And raging breed ;
So her disdains can ne'er offend,
Unless self-love take private end.

'Tis love breeds love in me, and cold disdain
Kills that again,
As water causeth fire to fret and fume,
Till all consume.
Who can of love more rich gift make,
That to Love's self for love's own sake?

I'll never dig in quarry of an heart
To have no part,
Nor roast in fiery eyes, which always are
Canicular.
Who this way would a lover prove,
May show his patience, not his love.

A frown may be sometimes for physic good,
But not for food ;
And for that raging humour there is sure
A gentler cure.
Why bar you love of private end,
Which never should to public tend?


Scheme ABCCDD EEDDFF GGHHII XXJJKK FFXCAB XXLLII
Poetic Form
Metre 1001110111 1111 11111101010 11010 11111101 01111111 0111111101 1111 0111010111 1111 11110111 11111111 10110111 1111 0111110101 0101 10011101 01111101 1111010101 1101 1101101101 1101 11111111 11111111 1101010111 1111 1101001111 1 11110101 11110111 011101111 1111 011101111 0101 11111101 11011101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,145
Words 232
Sentences 17
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 36
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 146
Words per stanza (avg) 38
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

1:11 min read
111

John Donne

John Donne was an English poet, satirist, lawyer and a cleric in the Church of England. more…

All John Donne poems | John Donne Books

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