Analysis of A Pastoral Of Phyllis And Corydon

Nicholas Breton 1558 (England) – 1626



On a hill there grows a flower,
Fair befall the dainty sweet!
By that flower there is a bower,
Where the heavenly Muses meet.

In that bower there is a chair,
Fringèd all about with gold,
Where doth sit the fairest fair
That did ever eye behold.

It is Phyllis, fair and bright,
She that is the shepherds' joy,
She that Venus did despite,
And did blind her little boy.

This is she, the wise, the rich,
That the world desires to see:
This is _ipsa quæ_, the which
There is none but only she.

Who would not this face admire?
Who would not this saint adore?
Who would not this sight desire,
Though he thought to see no more?

O, fair eyes, yet let me see,
One good look, and I am gone:
Look on me, for I am he,
Thy poor silly Corydon.

Thou that art the shepherds' queen,
Look upon thy silly swain;
By thy comfort have been seen
Dead men brought to life again.


Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH XIAI HJHJ KXKX
Poetic Form Quatrain  (86%)
Metre 10111010 1010101 111011010 10100101 01101101 1110111 1110101 1110101 1110101 1110101 1110101 0110101 1110101 10101011 1111101 1111101 1111101 1111101 11111010 1111111 1111111 1110111 1111111 11101 1110101 1011101 1110111 1111101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 836
Words 170
Sentences 11
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 28
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 93
Words per stanza (avg) 24
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

51 sec read
37

Nicholas Breton

Nicholas Breton, English poet and novelist, belonged to an old family settled at Layer Breton, Essex. more…

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