Analysis of Farewell, Fair Armida. A Song

John Dryden 1631 (Aldwincle) – 1631 (London)



Farewell, fair Armida, my joy and my grief!
In vain I have loved you, and hope no relief;
Undone by your virtue, too strict and severe,
Your eyes gave me love, and you gave me despair:
Now called by my honour, I seek with content
The fate which in pity you would not prevent:
To languish in love were to find, by delay,
A death that's more welcome the speediest way.
On seas and in battles, in bullets and fire,
The danger is less than in hopeless desire;
My death's wound you give me, though far off I bear
My fall from your sight—not to cost you a tear:
But if the kind flood on a wave should convey,
And under your window my body should lay,
The wound on my breast when you happen to see,
You'll say with a sigh—it was given by me.


Scheme AABCDDEEFFCCEEGG
Poetic Form
Metre 1101011011 01111101101 01111011001 11111011101 1111111110 01101011101 11001011101 011110011 110010010010 010111010010 11111111111 11111111101 11011101101 01011011011 01111111011 11101111011
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 746
Words 148
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 561
Words per stanza (avg) 146
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

45 sec read
36

John Dryden

John Dryden was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who was made Poet Laureate in 1668. more…

All John Dryden poems | John Dryden Books

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