Analysis of A Vote (excerpt)
Abraham Cowley 1618 (London) – 1667 (London)
...
This only grant me: that my means may lie
Too low for envy, for contempt too high.
Some honour I would have,
Not from great deeds, but good alone;
Th' ignote are better than ill-known,
Rumour can ope the grave.
Acquaintance I would hug, but when 't depends
Not from the number, but the choice of friends.
Books should, not bus'ness, entertain the light,
And sleep, as undisturb'd as death, the night.
My house a cottage, more
Than palace, and should fitting be
For all my use, no luxury.
My garden painted o'er
With Nature's hand, not Art's, and pleasures yield
Horace might envy in his Sabine field.
Thus would I double my life's fading space,
For he that runs it well, twice runs his race.
And in this true delight,
These unbought sports and happy state
I would not fear, nor wish my fate,
But boldly say each night,
To-morrow let my sun his beams display,
Or in clouds hide them; I have liv'd to-day.
Scheme | AAXBBXCC DDXEEXFF GGDHHDII |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 1 1101111111 1111010111 11111 11111101 111110111 01101 01011111101 1101010111 111110101 011011101 110101 11001101 11111100 1101010 1101110101 1011001011 1111011101 1111111111 001101 1110101 11111111 110111 1101111101 1011111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 960 |
Words | 168 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 25 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 231 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 56 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 52 sec read
- 59 Views
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"A Vote (excerpt)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/3/a-vote-%28excerpt%29>.
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