Analysis of An Epistle To Fleetwood Shephard, Esq.
Matthew Prior 1664 – 1721
When crowding folks, with strange ill faces,
Were making legs, and begging places,
And some with patents, some with merit,
Tired out my good Lord Dorset's spirit:
Sneaking I stood amongst the crew,
Desiring much to speak with you.
I waited while the clock struck thrice,
And footman brought out fifty lies;
Till, patience vex'd, and legs grown weary,
I thought it was in vain to tarry!
But did opine it might be better,
By penny-post to send a letter;
Now, if you miss of this epistle,
I'm baulk'd again, and may go whistle.
My business, Sir, you'll quickly guess,
Is to desire some little place;
And fair pretensions I have for't,
Much need, and very small desert.
Whene'er I writ to you, I wanted;
I always begg'd, you always granted.
Now, as you took me up when little,
Gave me my learning and my vittle;
Ask'd for me, from my lord, things fitting,
Kind as I'd been your own begetting;
Confirm what formerly you've given,
Nor leave me now at six and seven,
As Sunderland has left Mun Stephen.
No family, that takes a whelp
When first he laps, and scarce can yelp,
Neglects or turns him out of gate
When he's grown up to dog's estate:
No parish, if they once adopt
The spurious brats by strollers dropp'd,
Leave them, when grown up lusty fellows,
To, the wide world, that is, the gallows:
No thank them for their love, that's worse,
Than if they'd throttled them at nurse.
My uncle, rest his soul! when living,
Might have contrived me ways of thriving;
Taught me with cyder to replenish
My vats, or ebbing tide of Rhenish.
So when for hock I drew prickt white-wine,
Swear't had the flavour, and was right wine.
Or sent me with ten pounds to Furni-
val's Inn, to some good rogue attorney;
Where now, by forging deeds, and cheating,
I'd found some handsome ways of getting.
All this you made me quit, to follow
That sneaking whey-faced god Apollo;
Sent me among a fiddling crew
Of folks, I'd never seen nor knew,
Calliope, and God knows who,
To add no more invectives to i,
You spoil'd the youth, to make a poet.
In common justice, Sir, there's no man
That makes the whore, but keeps the woman.
Amongst all honest Christian people,
Whoe'er breaks limbs, maintains the cripple.
The sum of all I have to say,
Is, that you'll put me in some way;
And your petitioner shall pray--
There's one thing more I had almost slipt,
But that may do as well in postscript:
My friend Charles Montague's preferr'd;
Nor would I have it long observed,
That one mouse eats, while t'other starved.
Scheme | AABBCCDEFFGGHHIJFKLLHHMMNNNOOPPQQRRSSMMTTUUNFMMVVCCCWBXNHHYYYBZ1 2 3 |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110111110 010101010 011101110 101111110 10110101 010011111 11010111 01011101 110101110 111101110 110111110 110111010 111111010 110101110 11011101 110101101 010101111 11010110 11111110 1111110 111111110 111100110 111111110 111111010 011100110 111111010 110011110 11001101 11110111 01111111 11111101 11011101 010011101 111111010 101111010 11111111 11110111 110111110 110111110 11111010 11110111 111111111 111010111 11111111 111111010 111101010 111101110 111111110 110111010 11010101 11110111 0100111 1111111 110111010 010101111 110111010 011101010 11101010 01111111 11111011 01010011 11111111 11111101 111101 11111101 111111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,424 |
Words | 452 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 66 |
Lines Amount | 66 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,896 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 450 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:24 min read
- 129 Views
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"An Epistle To Fleetwood Shephard, Esq." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/27321/an-epistle-to-fleetwood-shephard%2C-esq.>.
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