Analysis of Epitaphs
Anne Bradstreet 1612 (Northampton) – 1672 (Andover)
Her Mother's Epitaph
Here lies
A worthy matron of unspotted life,
A loving mother and obedient wife,
A friendly neighbor, pitiful to poor,
Whom oft she fed, and clothed with her store;
To servants wisely aweful, but yet kind,
And as they did, so they reward did find:
A true instructor of her family,
The which she ordered with dexterity,
The public meetings ever did frequent,
And in her closest constant hours she spent;
Religious in all her words and ways,
Preparing still for death, till end of days:
Of all her children, children lived to see,
Then dying, left a blessed memory.
Her Father's Epitaph
Within this tomb a patriot lies
That was both pious, just and wise,
To truth a shield, to right a wall,
To sectaries a whip and maul,
A magazine of history,
A prizer of good company
In manners pleasant and severe
The good him loved, the bad did fear,
And when his time with years was spent
In some rejoiced, more did lament.
1653, age 77
Scheme | A BCCXXDDEEXFGGEE A BBHHEEIIFFX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01010 11 01010111 01010001001 0101010011 111101101 110101111 0111110111 0101010100 0111010100 0101010110 00010101011 010010101 0101111111 1101010111 110101100 01010 011101001 11110101 11011101 110101 0101100 0111100 01010001 01110111 01111111 01011101 1 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 924 |
Words | 174 |
Sentences | 3 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 15, 1, 11 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 184 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 43 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 22, 2023
- 52 sec read
- 133 Views
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"Epitaphs" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/3084/epitaphs>.
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