Analysis of To Stella, Written On The Day Of Her Birth. March 13, 1723-4, But Not On The Subject, When I Was Sick In Bed
Jonathan Swift 1667 (Dublin) – 1745 (Ireland)
Tormented with incessant pains,
Can I devise poetic strains?
Time was, when I could yearly pay
My verse to Stella's native day:
But now unable grown to write,
I grieve she ever saw the light.
Ungrateful! since to her I owe
That I these pains can undergo.
She tends me like an humble slave;
And, when indecently I rave,
When out my brutish passions break,
With gall in every word I speak,
She with soft speech my anguish cheers,
Or melts my passions down with tears;
Although 'tis easy to descry
She wants assistance more than I;
Yet seems to feel my pains alone,
And is a stoic in her own.
When, among scholars, can we find
So soft and yet so firm a mind?
All accidents of life conspire
To raise up Stella's virtue higher;
Or else to introduce the rest
Which had been latent in her breast.
Her firmness who could e'er have known,
Had she not evils of her own?
Her kindness who could ever guess,
Had not her friends been in distress?
Whatever base returns you find
From me, dear Stella, still be kind.
In your own heart you'll reap the fruit,
Though I continue still a brute.
But, when I once am out of pain,
I promise to be good again;
Meantime, your other juster friends
Shall for my follies make amends;
So may we long continue thus,
Admiring you, you pitying us.
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFGHIJKLLMMJJNNLLOOMMPPQRSSTT |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1010101 11010101 11111101 11110101 11010111 11110101 01011011 1111101 11111101 01111 11110101 110100111 11111101 11110111 111011 11010111 11111101 01010001 10110111 11011101 110011010 111101010 1110101 11110001 010111011 11110101 01011101 11011001 1010111 11110111 01111101 11010101 11111111 11011101 1110101 11110101 11110101 010111001 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,236 |
Words | 240 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 38 |
Lines Amount | 38 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 983 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 238 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 06, 2023
- 1:13 min read
- 116 Views
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"To Stella, Written On The Day Of Her Birth. March 13, 1723-4, But Not On The Subject, When I Was Sick In Bed" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/24344/to-stella%2C-written-on-the-day-of-her-birth.-march-13%2C-1723-4%2C-but-not-on-the-subject%2C-when-i-was-sick-in-bed>.
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