Analysis of A Fever
John Donne 1572 (London) – 1631 (London)
Oh do not die, for I shall hate
All women so, when thou art gone,
That thee I shall not celebrate,
When I remember, thou wast one.
But yet thou canst not die, I know;
To leave this world behind, is death,
But when thou from this world wilt go,
The whole world vapours with thy breath.
Or if, when thou, the world’s soul, go`st,
It stay, ’tis but thy carcase then,
The fairest woman, but thy ghost,
But corrupt worms, the worthiest men.
Oh wrangling schools, that search what fire
Shall burn this world, had none the wit
Unto this knowledge to aspire,
That this her fever might be it ?
And yet she cannot waste by this,
Nor long bear this torturing wrong,
For much corruption needful is
To fuel such a fever long.
These burning fits but meteors be,
Whose matter in thee is soon spent.
Thy beauty, and all parts, which are thee,
Are unchangeable firmament.
Yet ’twas of my mind, seizing thee,
Though it in thee cannot persever.
For I had rather owner be
Of thee one hour, than all else ever.
Scheme | AXAX BCBC ADXD EFXF XGXG HXHA HEHE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (86%) |
Metre | 11111111 11011111 1111110 11010111 11111111 11110111 11111111 0111111 11110111 1111111 01010111 101101001 1100111110 11111101 10110101 11010111 01110111 11111001 11010101 11010101 110111001 11001111 110011111 111 11111101 1101101 11110101 1111011110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 977 |
Words | 188 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 109 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 27 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 56 sec read
- 262 Views
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