Analysis of To Stella On Her Birth-Day, 1721-2
Jonathan Swift 1667 (Dublin) – 1745 (Ireland)
While, Stella, to your lasting praise
The Muse her annual tribute pays,
While I assign myself a task
Which you expect, but scorn to ask;
If I perform this task with pain,
Let me of partial fate complain;
You every year the debt enlarge,
I grow less equal to the charge:
In you each virtue brighter shines,
But my poetic vein declines;
My harp will soon in vain be strung,
And all your virtues left unsung.
For none among the upstart race
Of poets dare assume my place;
Your worth will be to them unknown,
They must have Stellas of their own;
And thus, my stock of wit decay'd,
I dying leave the debt unpaid,
Unless Delany, as my heir,
Will answer for the whole arrear.
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (35%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 11011101 010100101 1101101 11011111 11011111 11110101 110010101 11110101 01110101 11010101 11110111 01110101 1101011 11010111 11111101 1111111 01111101 11010101 01100111 1101011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 657 |
Words | 128 |
Sentences | 3 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 20 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 520 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 126 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 20, 2023
- 38 sec read
- 83 Views
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"To Stella On Her Birth-Day, 1721-2" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/24341/to-stella-on-her-birth-day%2C-1721-2>.
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