Analysis of To My Lord Buckhurst, Very Young, Playing With A Cat



The amorous youth, whose tender breast
Was by his darling Cat possest,
Obtain'd of Venus his desire,
Howe'er irregular his fire:
Nature the power of love obey'd,
The Cat became a blushing maid,
And on the happy change the boy
Employ'd his wonder and his joy.
Take care, O beauteous child, take care,
Lest thou prefer so rash a prayer,
Nor vainly hope the queen of love,
Will e'er thy favourite's charms improve.
O quickly from her shrine retreat,
Or tremble for thy darling's fate.
The queen of love, who soon will see
Her own Adonis live in thee,
Will lightly her first loss deplore,
Will easily forgive the boar:
Her eyes with tears no more will flow,
With jealous rage her breast will glow,
And on her tabby rival's face
She deep will mark a new disgrace.


Scheme AABBCCDDEEFGHIJJKKLLMM
Poetic Form
Metre 010011101 1111011 011101010 100100110 100101101 01010101 01010101 01110011 1111111 11011101 11010111 11011101 11010101 1101111 01111111 01010101 11001101 11000101 01111111 11010111 01010101 11110101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 747
Words 140
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 22
Lines Amount 22
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 591
Words per stanza (avg) 138
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

44 sec read
78

Matthew Prior

Matthew Prior was an English poet and diplomat. more…

All Matthew Prior poems | Matthew Prior Books

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