Analysis of Sonnet XIV: If He From Heav'n
Michael Drayton 1563 (Hartshill) – 1631 (London)
If he from Heav'n that filch'd that living fire
Condemn'd by Jove to endless torment be,
I greatly marvel how you still go free
That far beyond Prometheus did aspire.
The fire he stole, although of heav'nly kind,
Which from above he craftily did take,
Of lifeless clods us living men to make,
He did bestow in temper of the mind;
But you broke into Heav'n's immortal store,
Where Virtue, Honor, Wit, and Beauty lay,
Which taking thence you have escap'd away,
Yet stand as free as e'er you did before;
Yet old Prometheus punish'd for his rape.
Thus poor thieves suffer when the greater 'scape.
Scheme | ABBCDEEDFGGFHH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111111010 011111011 1101011111 11011101 010111111 11011111 1101110111 1101010101 1110110101 1101010101 1101110101 11111101101 11110111 1111010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 600 |
Words | 108 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 461 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 106 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 35 sec read
- 87 Views
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"Sonnet XIV: If He From Heav'n" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28136/sonnet-xiv%3A-if-he-from-heav%27n>.
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