Analysis of On A Candle
Of all inhabitants on earth,
To man alone I owe my birth,
And yet the cow, the sheep, the bee,
Are all my parents more than he:
I, a virtue, strange and rare,
Make the fairest look more fair,
And myself, which yet is rarer,
Growing old, grow still the fairer.
Like sots, alone I'm dull enough,
When dosed with smoke, and smear'd with snuff;
But, in the midst of mirth and wine,
I with double lustre shine.
Emblem of the Fair am I,
Polish'd neck, and radiant eye;
In my eye my greatest grace,
Emblem of the Cyclops' race;
Metals I like them subdue,
Slave like them to Vulcan too;
Emblem of a monarch old,
Wise, and glorious to behold;
Wasted he appears, and pale,
Watching for the public weal:
Emblem of the bashful dame,
That in secret feeds her flame,
Often aiding to impart
All the secrets of her heart;
Various is my bulk and hue,
Big like Bess, and small like Sue:
Now brown and burnish'd like a nut,
At other times a very slut;
Often fair, and soft, and tender,
Taper, tall, and smooth, and slender:
Like Flora, deck'd with various flowers,
Like Phoebus, guardian of the hours:
But whatever be my dress,
Greater be my size or less,
Swelling be my shape or small,
Like thyself I shine in all.
Clouded if my face is seen,
My complexion wan and green,
Languid like a love-sick maid,
Steel affords me present aid.
Soon or late, my date is done,
As my thread of life is spun;
Yet to cut the fatal thread
Oft revives my drooping head;
Yet I perish in my prime,
Seldom by the death of time;
Die like lovers as they gaze,
Die for those I live to please;
Pine unpitied to my urn,
Nor warm the fair for whom I burn:
Unpitied, unlamented too,
Die like all that look on you.
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLLMMIINNDDOOPPQQRRSSTTUUVVWXYYII |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010011 11011111 01010101 11110111 1010101 1010111 0111110 10111010 11011101 11110111 10011101 1110101 1010111 10101001 0111101 101011 1011101 1111101 101011 10100101 1010101 1010101 1010101 1010101 1010101 1010101 10011101 1110111 11010101 11010101 10101010 10101010 1101110010 1101001010 110111 1011111 1011111 111101 1011111 1010101 1010111 1011101 1111111 1111111 1110101 1011101 1110011 1010111 1110111 1111111 11111 11011111 111 1111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,622 |
Words | 321 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 54 |
Lines Amount | 54 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,268 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 319 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:37 min read
- 51 Views
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"On A Candle" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/24282/on-a-candle>.
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