Analysis of Marriage A-La-Mode

John Dryden 1631 (Aldwincle) – 1631 (London)



Why should a foolish marriage vow,
        Which long ago was made,
    Oblige us to each other now
        When passion is decay'd?
    We lov'd, and we lov'd, as long as we could,
        Till our love was lov'd out in us both:
    But our marriage is dead, when the pleasure is fled:
        'Twas pleasure first made it an oath.

If I have pleasures for a friend,
      And farther love in store,
  What wrong has he whose joys did end,
      And who could give no more?
  'Tis a madness that he should be jealous of me,
      Or that I should bar him of another:
  For all we can gain is to give our selves pain,
      When neither can hinder the other.


Scheme ABABXCXC DEDEXFXF
Poetic Form
Metre 11010101 110111 01111101 110101 1101111111 1101111011 1101011101011 11011111 11110101 010101 11111111 011111 101011111011 1111111010 111111111011 110110010
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 654
Words 120
Sentences 5
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 8
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 221
Words per stanza (avg) 59
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 03, 2023

37 sec read
212

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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