Analysis of To my Honor'd Friend, Dr. Charleton (excerpt)
The longest tyranny that ever sway'd
Was that wherein our ancestors betray'd
Their free-born reason to the Stagirite,
And made his torch their universal light.
So truth, while only one supplied the state,
Grew scarce, and dear, and yet sophisticate;
Until 't was bought, like emp'ric wares, or charms,
Hard words seal'd up with Aristotle's arms.
Columbus was the first that shook his throne,
And found a temp'rate in a torrid zone:
The fev'rish air fann'd by a cooling breeze,
The fruitful vales set round with shady trees;
And guiltless men, who danc'd away their time,
Fresh as their groves, and happy as their clime.
Had we still paid that homage to a name,
Which only God and Nature justly claim,
The western seas had been our utmost bound,
Where poets still might dream the sun was drown'd:
And all the stars that shine in southern skies
Had been admir'd by none but savage eyes.
Among th' asserters of free reason's claim,
Th' English are not the least in worth, or fame.
The world to Bacon does not only owe
Its present knowledge, but its future too.
Gilbert shall live, till loadstones cease to draw,
Or British fleets the boundless ocean awe.
And noble Boyle, not less in nature seen,
Than his great brother read in states and men.
The circling streams, once thought but pools, of blood
(Whether life's fuel or the body's food),
From dark oblivion Harvey's name shall save;
While Ent keeps all the honour that he gave.
Scheme | AAAXBBCCDDEEFFGGHHII GGXXXXXXXXJJ |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0101001101 1101101001 11110101 011110101 1111010101 110101010 0111111111 111111001 0101011111 0101100101 011110101 0101111101 0101110111 1111010111 1111110101 1101010101 0101111011 1101110111 0101110101 11010111101 011111111 111011010111 0111011101 1101011101 101111111 1101010101 0101110101 1111010101 01001111111 1011010101 11010010111 111101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,489 |
Words | 253 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 20, 12 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 558 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 126 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:20 min read
- 44 Views
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"To my Honor'd Friend, Dr. Charleton (excerpt)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22728/to-my-honor%27d-friend%2C-dr.-charleton-%28excerpt%29>.
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