Analysis of Elegy VII
John Donne 1572 (London) – 1631 (London)
Nature's lay idiot, I taught thee to love,
And in that sophistry, Oh, thou dost prove
Too subtle: Foole, thou didst not understand
The mystic language of the eye nor hand:
Nor couldst thou judge the difference of the air
Of sighs, and say, This lies, this sounds despair:
Nor by th' eyes water call a malady
Desperately hot, or changing feverously.
I had not taught thee, then, the Alphabet
Of flowers, how they devisefully being set
And bound up might with speechless secrecy
Deliver errands mutely, and mutually.
Remember since all thy words used to be
To every suitor, Ay, if my friends agree;
Since, household charms, thy husband's name to teach,
Were all the love tricks that thy wit could reach;
And since, an hour's discourse could scarce have made
One answer in thee, and that ill arrayed
In broken proverbs and torn sentences.
Thou art not by so many duties his,
That from the world's Common having severed thee,
Inlaid thee, neither to be seen, nor see,
As mine: who have with amorous delicacies
Refined thee into a blisful Paradise.
Thy graces and good words my creatures be;
I planted knowledge and life's tree in thee,
Which Oh, shall strangers taste? Must I alas
Frame and enamel plate, and drink in glass?
Chaf wax for others' seals? break a colt's force
And leave him then, being made a ready horse?
Scheme | ABCCDDEFGGEEEEHHIIJKEELMEENNOO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) Etheree (20%) |
Metre | 10110011111 00111111 110111101 0101010111 11110100101 1101111101 111111010100 100011101 111111010 110111101 0111110100 01010101000 0101111111 110010111101 111110111 0101111111 01110101111 1100101101 0101001100 1111110101 11011010101 111011111 111111001000 011010110 1100111101 1101001101 1111011101 1001010101 1111011011 01111010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,294 |
Words | 235 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 30 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,031 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 233 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 29, 2023
- 1:12 min read
- 213 Views
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