Analysis of A Shepherd's Dream
Nicholas Breton 1558 (England) – 1626
A silly shepherd lately sat
Among a flock of sheep;
Where musing long on this and that,
At last he fell asleep.
And in the slumber as he lay,
He gave a piteous groan;
He thought his sheep were run away,
And he was left alone.
He whoop'd, he whistled, and he call'd,
But not a sheep came near him;
Which made the shepherd sore appall'd
To see that none would hear him.
But as the swain amazèd stood,
In this most solemn vein,
Came Phyllida forth of the wood,
And stood before the swain.
Whom when the shepherd did behold
He straight began to weep,
And at the heart he grew a-cold,
To think upon his sheep.
For well he knew, where came the queen,
The shepherd durst not stay:
And where that he durst not be seen,
The sheep must needs away.
To ask her if she saw his flock,
Might happen patience move,
And have an answer with a mock,
That such demanders prove.
Yet for because he saw her come
Alone out of the wood,
He thought he would not stand as dumb,
When speech might do him good;
And therefore falling on his knees,
To ask but for his sheep,
He did awake, and so did leese
The honour of his sleep.
Scheme | ABABCDCDEFEFGHGHIBIBJCJCKLKLMGMGNBOB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01010101 010111 11011101 111101 00010111 11011 11110101 011101 11110011 1101111 11010101 1111111 1101111 011101 111101 010101 11010101 110111 01011101 110111 11111101 010111 01111111 011101 11011111 110101 01110101 1111 11011101 011101 11111111 111111 0110111 111111 11010111 01111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,074 |
Words | 219 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 36 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 844 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 217 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:06 min read
- 101 Views
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