Analysis of To The Author Of The Foregoing Pastoral - (Love And Friendship)
Matthew Prior 1664 – 1721
By Sylvia if thy charming self be meant;
If friendship be thy virgin vows' extent,
O! let me in Aminta's praises join,
Hers my esteem shall be, my passion thine.
When for thy head the garland I prepare,
A second wreath shall bind Aminta's hair;
And when my choicest songs thy worth proclaim,
Alternate verse shall bless Aminta's name;
My heart shall own the justice of her cause,
And Love himself submit to Friendship's laws.
But if beneath thy numbers' soft disguise
Some favour'd swain, some true Alexis, lies;
If Amaryllis breathes thy secret pains,
And thy fond heart beats measure to thy strains,
May'st thou, howe'er I grieve, for ever find
The flame propitious and the lover kind;
May Venus long exert her happy power,
And make thy beauty like thy verse endure:
May every god his friendly aid afford,
Pan guard thy flock, and Ceres bless thy board.
But if, by chance, the series of thy joys
Permit one thought less cheerful to arise,
Piteous transfer it to the mournful swain,
Who loving much, who not beloved again,
Feels an ill-fated passion's last excess,
And dies in wo that thou may'st live in peace.
Scheme | AABCDDEEFGHHIIJJKLMMNHOPQR |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11001110111 1101110101 11101101 0101111101 1111010101 01011111 0111011101 10011111 1111010101 010101111 1101110101 111110101 101011101 0111110111 11110111101 0101000101 11010101010 0111011101 11001110101 1111010111 1111010111 0111110101 101110101 1101110101 11110111 01011111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,096 |
Words | 198 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 26 |
Lines Amount | 26 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 872 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 196 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:02 min read
- 27 Views
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"To The Author Of The Foregoing Pastoral - (Love And Friendship)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/27474/to-the-author-of-the-foregoing-pastoral---%28love-and-friendship%29>.
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