Analysis of Songs Set To Music: 4. Set By Mr. Smith



Come, weep no more, for 'tis in vain;
Torment not thus your pretty heart;
Think, Flavia, we may meet again,
As well as that we now must part.

You sigh and weep; the gods neglect
That precious dew your eyes let fall;
Our joy and grief with like respect
They mind, and that is not at all.

We pray, in hopes they will be kind,
As if they did regard our state;
They hear, and the return we find
Is, that no prayers can alter Fate.

Then clear your brow, and look more gay;
Do not yourself to grief resign;
Who knows but that those powers may
The pair they now have parted join?

But since they have thus cruel been,
And could such constant lovers sever,
I dare not trust, lest, now they're in,
They should divide us two for ever.

Then, Flavia, come, and let us grieve,
Remembering, though, upon what score;
This our last parting look believe,
Believe we must embrace no more.

Yet should our sun shine out at last,
And Fortune, without more deceit,
Throw but one reconciling cast,
To make two wandering lovers meet;

How great then would our pleasures be
To find heaven kinder than believed,
And we, who had no hopes to see
Each other, to be thus deceived!

But say, should heaven bring no relief;
Suppose our sun should never rise;
Why, then, what's due to such a grief
We've paid already with our eyes.


Scheme XAXA BCBC DEDE FXFX GHGH IJIJ KLKL MNMN OPOP
Poetic Form Quatrain  (89%)
Metre 11111101 1111101 110011101 11111111 11010101 11011111 101011101 11011111 11011111 111101101 11000111 11111101 11110111 11011101 11111101 01111101 11111101 011101010 11111110 110111110 110010111 010010111 110110101 01110111 111011111 01001101 1111001 111100101 111110101 111010101 01111111 11011101 111101101 011011101 11111101 110101101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,271
Words 246
Sentences 9
Stanzas 9
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 36
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 111
Words per stanza (avg) 27
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

1:14 min read
53

Matthew Prior

Matthew Prior was an English poet and diplomat. more…

All Matthew Prior poems | Matthew Prior Books

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