Analysis of Idea XX: An evil spirit, your beauty, haunts me still
Michael Drayton 1563 (Hartshill) – 1631 (London)
An evil spirit, your beauty, haunts me still,
Wherewith, alas, I have been long possess'd,
Which ceaseth not to tempt me to each ill,
Nor gives me once but one poor minute's rest.
In me it speaks, whether I sleep or wake;
And when by means to drive it out I try,
With greater torments then it me doth take,
And tortures me in most extremity.
Before my face it lays down my despairs,
And hastes me on unto a sudden death;
Now tempting me to drown myself in tears,
And then in sighing to give up my breath.
Thus am I still provok'd to every evil
By this good-wicked spirit, sweet angel-devil.
Scheme | ABABCDCEFGFGHH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010110111 101111101 111111111 1111111101 0111101111 0111111111 110111111 0101010100 0111111101 0111100101 110111101 0101011111 111101110010 111101011010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 619 |
Words | 115 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 454 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 113 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 35 sec read
- 53 Views
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"Idea XX: An evil spirit, your beauty, haunts me still" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28102/idea-xx%3A-an-evil-spirit%2C-your-beauty%2C-haunts-me-still>.
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