Analysis of To My Antenor

Katherine Philips 1632 (London) – 1664



My dear Antenor now give o're,
For my sake talk of Graves no more;
Death is not in our power to gain,
And is both wish'd and fear'd in vain
Let's be as angry as wee will,
Grief sooner may distract then kill,
And the unhappy often prove
Death is as coy a thing as Love.
Those whose own sword their death did give,
Afraid were or asham'd to Live;
And by an act so desperate,
Did poorly run away from fate;
'Tis braver much t'out-ride the storm,
Endure its rages and shun his harm;
Affliction nobly undergone,
More Greatness shews than having none.
But yet the Wheel in turning round,
At last may lift us from the ground,
And when our Fortune's most severe,
The less we have, the less we fear.
And why should we that grief permit,
Which can nor mend nor shorten it?
Let's wait for a succeeding good,
Woes have their Ebb as well as flood:
And since Parliament have rescu'd you,
Believe that Providence will do so too.


Scheme ABCCDDEFGHIJKLMNOOPPIIQRSS
Poetic Form
Metre 1111111 11111111 1110101011 01110101 11110111 11010111 00010101 11110111 11111111 01010111 0111110 11010111 110111101 011100111 0101001 11011101 11010101 11111101 011010101 01110111 01111101 11111101 11100101 11111111 011001101 0111001111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 896
Words 176
Sentences 6
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 26
Lines Amount 26
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 704
Words per stanza (avg) 174
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

55 sec read
81

Katherine Philips

Katherine Philips was an Anglo-Welsh poet, translator, and woman of letters. more…

All Katherine Philips poems | Katherine Philips Books

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