Analysis of Woman's Constancy

John Donne 1572 (London) – 1631 (London)



Now thou hast loved me one whole day,
Tomorrow when thou leav'st, what wilt thou say?
Wilt thou then antedate some new-made vow?
    Or say that now
We are not just those persons which we were?
Or, that oaths made in reverential fear
Of love, and his wrath, any may forswear?
Or, as true deaths, true marriages untie,
So lovers' contracts, images of those,
Bind but till sleep, death's image, them unloose?
    Or your own end to justify,
For having purposed change, and falsehood, you
Can have no way but falsehood to be true?
Vain lunatic, against these 'scapes I could
    Dispute, and conquer, if I would,
    Which I abstain to do,
For by tomorrow, I may think so too.


Scheme AABBCDEFGGFHHIIHH
Poetic Form
Metre 11111111 011111111 11111111 1111 1111110110 111100101 1101110101 1111110001 110110011 111111011 1111110 11011011 111111111 110011111 01010111 110111 110111111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 665
Words 122
Sentences 8
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 17
Lines Amount 17
Letters per line (avg) 30
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 505
Words per stanza (avg) 120
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 18, 2023

37 sec read
128

John Donne

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

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