Analysis of Prologue to His Royal Highness, Upon His First Appearance at the Duke's Theatre After His Return from Scotland.
John Dryden 1631 (Aldwincle) – 1631 (London)
In those cold regions which no summers cheer,
Where brooding darkness covers half the year,
To hollow caves the shivering natives go,
Bears range abroad, and hunt in tracks of snow.
But when the tedious twilight wears away,
And stars grow paler at the approach of day,
The longing crowds to frozen mountains run,
Happy who first can see the glimmering sun;
The surly savage offspring disappear,
And curse the bright successor of the year.
Yet, though rough bears in covert seek defence,
White foxes stay, with seeming innocence;
That crafty kind with daylight can dispense.
Still we are thronged so full with Reynard's race,
That loyal subjects scarce can find a place;
Thus modest truth is cast behind the crowd,
Truth speaks too low, hypocrisy too loud.
Let them be first to flatter in success;
Duty can stay, but guilt has need to press.
Once, when true zeal the sons of God did call,
To make their solemn show at heaven's White-hall,
The fawning Devil appeared among the rest,
And made as good a courtier as the best.
The friends of Job, who railed at him before,
Came cap in hand when he had three times more.
Yet late repentance may, perhaps, be true;
Kings can forgive, if rebels can but sue:
A tyrant's power in rigour is exprest;
The father yearns in the true prince's breast.
We grant, an o'ergrown Whig no grace can mend,
But most are babes, that know not they offend;
The crowd, to restless motion still inclined,
Are clouds, that rack according to the wind.
Driven by their chiefs, they storms of hailstones pour,
Then mourn, and soften to a silent shower.
O welcome to this much-offending land,
The prince that brings forgiveness in his hand!
Thus angels on glad messages appear,
Their first salute commands us not to fear;
Thus heaven, that could constrain us to obey,
(With reverence if we might presume to say),
Seems to relax the rights of sovereign sway;
Permits to man the choice of good and ill,
And makes us happy by our own free-will.
Scheme | AABBCCDDAAEFEGGHHIIJJKKLLMMHKNNOOLPQQAACCCRR |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0111011101 1101010101 11010100101 1101010111 1101001101 0111100111 0101110101 10111101001 01010101 0101010101 1111010101 1101110100 110111101 111111111 1101011101 1101110101 1111010011 1111110001 1011111111 1111011111 11110111011 01010010101 01110100101 0111111101 1101111111 1101010111 1101110111 01100111 0101001101 111111111 1111111101 0111010101 1111010101 1011111111 11010101010 1101110101 0111010011 1101110001 1101011111 11011011101 11001110111 1101011101 0111011101 01110110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,965 |
Words | 349 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 44 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,540 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 347 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:46 min read
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"Prologue to His Royal Highness, Upon His First Appearance at the Duke's Theatre After His Return from Scotland." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22692/prologue-to-his-royal-highness%2C-upon-his-first-appearance-at-the-duke%27s-theatre-after-his-return-from-scotland.>.
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