Analysis of A Dialogue Between The Soul And Body
Andrew Marvell 1621 (Winestead) – 1678 (London)
Soul
O Who shall, from this Dungeon, raise
A Soul inslav'd so many wayes?
With bolts of Bones, that fetter'd stands
In Feet ; and manacled in Hands.
Here blinded with an Eye ; and there
Deaf with the drumming of an Ear.
A Soul hung up, as 'twere, in Chains
Of Nerves, and Arteries, and Veins.
Tortur'd, besides each other part,1
In a vain Head, and double Heart.
Body
O who shall me deliver whole,
From bonds of this Tyrannic Soul?
Which, stretcht upright, impales me so,
That mine own Precipice I go;
And warms and moves this needless Frame:
(A Fever could but do the same.)
And, wanting where its spight to try,
Has made me live to let me dye.
A Body that could never rest,
Since this ill Spirit it possest.
Soul
What Magic could me thus confine
Within anothers Grief to pine?
Where whatsoever it complain,
I feel, that cannot feel, the pain.
And all my Care its self employes,
That to preserve, which me destroys:
Constrain'd not only to indure
Diseases, but, whats worse, the Cure:
And ready oft the Port to gain,
Am Shipwrackt into Health again.
Body
But Physick yet could never reach
The Maladies Thou me dost teach;
Whom first the Cramp of Hope does Tear:
And then the Palsie Shakes of Fear.
The Pestilence of Love does heat :
Or Hatred's hidden Ulcer eat.
Joy's chearful Madness does perplex:
Or Sorrow's other Madness vex.
Which Knowledge forces me to know;
And Memory will not foregoe.
What but a Soul could have the wit
To build me up for Sin so fit?
So Architects do square and hew,
Green Trees that in the Forest grew.
Scheme | Abbccdxeeff Gaahhiijjxf Akkllbxdxlx Gmmdxnnoohxppqq |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1 11111101 0111101 11111101 010101 11011101 11010111 01111101 11010001 10011101 00110101 10 11110101 111111 11010111 11110011 01011101 01011101 01011111 11111111 01011101 1111011 1 11011101 011111 1010101 11110101 0111111 11011101 0111011 01010101 01010111 1101101 10 1111101 01001111 11011111 0101111 01001111 1110101 1110101 1110101 11010111 0100111 11011101 11111111 1101101 11100101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,492 |
Words | 285 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 11, 11, 11, 15 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 296 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 71 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 02, 2023
- 1:27 min read
- 107 Views
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