Analysis of An Elegie. Princesse Katherine Borne, Christened, Buried, In One Day
You, that can haply mixe your joyes with cries,
And weave white Ios with black Elegies,
Can caroll out a dirge, and in one breath
Sing to the tune either of life, or death;
You, that can weepe the gladnesse of the spheres,
And pen a hymne, in stead of inke, with teares;
Here, here your unproportion'd wit let fall,
To celebrate this new-borne funerall,
And greete that little greatnesse, which from th' wombe
Dropt both a load to th' cradle and the tombe.
Bright soule! teach us, to warble with what feet
Thy swathing linnen and thy winding sheet,
Weepe, or shout forth that fonts solemnitie,
Which at once christn'd and buried thee,
And change our shriller passions with that sound,
First told thee into th' ayre, then to the ground.
Ah, wert thou borne for this? only to call
The King and Queen guests to your buriall!
To bid good night, your day not yet begun,
And shew a setting, ere a rising sun!
Or wouldst thou have thy life a martyrdom?
Dye in the act of thy religion,
Fit, excellently, innocently good,
First sealing it with water, then thy blood?
As when on blazing wings a blest man sores,
And having past to God through fiery dores,
Straight 's roab'd with flames, when the same element,
Which was his shame, proves now his ornament;
Oh, how he hast'ned death, burn't to be fryed,
Kill'd twice with each delay, till deified.
So swift hath been thy race, so full of flight,
Like him condemn'd, ev'n aged with a night,
Cutting all lets with clouds, as if th' hadst been
Like angels plum'd, and borne a Cherubin.
Or, in your journey towards heav'n, say,
Tooke you the world a little in your way?
Saw'st and dislik'st its vaine pompe, then didst flye
Up for eternall glories to the skye?
Like a religious ambitious one,
Aspiredst for the everlasting crowne?
Ah! holy traytour to your brother prince,
Rob'd of his birth-right and preheminence!
Could you ascend yon' chaire of state e're him,
And snatch from th' heire the starry diadem?
Making your honours now as much uneven,
As gods on earth are lesse then saints in heav'n.
Triumph! sing triumphs, then! Oh, put on all
Your richest lookes, drest for this festivall!
Thoughts full of ravisht reverence, with eyes
So fixt, as when a saint we canonize;
Clap wings with Seraphins before the throne
At this eternall coronation,
And teach your soules new mirth, such as may be
Worthy this birth-day to divinity.
But ah! these blast your feasts, the jubilies
We send you up are sad, as were our cries,
And of true joy we can expresse no more
Thus crown'd, then when we buried thee before.
Princesse in heav'n, forgivenes! whilst we
Resigne our office to the HIERARCHY.
Scheme | AABBXACCDD EEEFGG CCHH DHXXXAIIEXJJXH KKLLHX XADDHH CCAAXHFF AAMM FF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111111 01110111 111010011 1101101111 111101101 0101011111 1111111 1101111 01110111111 110111110001 1111110111 11101101 1111111 11110101 0110110111 111011111101 1111111011 01011111 1111111101 0101010101 1111110100 100111010 1100010001 1101110111 1111010111 01011111001 11111101100 1111111100 11111111111 111101110 1111111111 1101111101 101111111111 11010101 101100111 1101010011 1101111111 11110101 100100101 1100101 110111101 1111101 11011111111 01111101010 1011111010 1111111101 1011011111 11011111 111110011 111101110 11110101 111010 0111111111 1011110100 11111101 11111110101 011111111 1111110101 101111 1101010100 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,588 |
Words | 472 |
Sentences | 26 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 6, 4, 14, 6, 6, 8, 4, 2 |
Lines Amount | 60 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 226 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 52 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:26 min read
- 118 Views
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"An Elegie. Princesse Katherine Borne, Christened, Buried, In One Day" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/30142/an-elegie.-princesse-katherine-borne%2C-christened%2C-buried%2C-in-one-day>.
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