Analysis of Epilogue to The Husband His Own Cuckold
John Dryden 1631 (Aldwincle) – 1631 (London)
Like some raw sophister that mounts the pulpit,
So trembles a young poet at a full pit.
Unused to crowds, the parson quakes for fear,
And wonders how the devil he durst come there;
Wanting three talents needful for the place,
Some beard, some learning, and some little grace.
Nor is the puny poet void of care;
For authors, such as our new authors are,
Have not much learning, nor much wit to spare;
And as for grace, to tell the truth, there's scarce one,
But has as little as the very parson:
Both say, they preach and write for your instruction;
But 'tis for a third day, and for induction.
The difference is, that though you like the play,
The poet's gain is ne'er beyond his day;
But with the parson 'tis another case,
He, without holiness, may rise to grace;
The poet has one disadvantage more,
That if his play be dull, he's damned all o'er,
Not only a damn'd blockhead, but damn'd poor.
But dulness well becomes the sable garment;
I warrant that ne'er spoiled a priest's preferment;
Wit's not his business, and as wit now goes,
Sirs, 'tis not so much yours as you suppose,
For you like nothing now but nauseous beaux.
You laugh not, gallants, as by proof appears,
At what his beauship says, but what he wears;
So 'tis your eyes are tickled, not your ears.
The tailor and the furrier find the stuff,
The wit lies in the dress, and monstrous muff.
The truth on 't is, the payment of the pit
Is like for like, clipt money for clipt wit.
You cannot from our absent author hope,
He should equip the stage with such a fop.
Fools change in England, and new fools arise;
For, though the immortal species never dies,
Yet every year new maggots make new flies.
But where he lives abroad, he scarce can find
One fool, for million that he left behind.
Scheme | AABCDDCECFFFFGGDDHIJKALLMNONPPAAQRSSSTT |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111010 1101101011 0111010111 01010101111 1011010101 1111001101 1101010111 11011101101 1111011111 01111101111 11110101010 11110111010 11101101010 01001111101 0101110111 1101010101 1011001111 010110101 11111111110 110011111 1110101010 110111011 1111001111 1111111101 1111011101 111111101 111111111 1111110111 01000100101 0110010101 01111010101 1111110111 11011010101 1101011101 1101001101 11001010101 11001110111 1111011111 1111011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,755 |
Words | 327 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 39 |
Lines Amount | 39 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,344 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 325 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 27, 2023
- 1:41 min read
- 66 Views
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