Analysis of The Stirrup-Cup

Sidney Lanier 1842 (Macon) – 1881 (Lynn)



Death, thou'rt a cordial old and rare:
Look how compounded, with what care!
Time got his wrinkles reaping thee
Sweet herbs from all antiquity.

David to thy distillage went,
Keats, and Gotama excellent,
Omar Khayyam, and Chaucer bright,
And Shakespeare for a king-delight.

Then, Time, let not a drop be spilt:
Hand me the cup whene'er thou wilt;
'Tis thy rich stirrup-cup to me;
I'll drink it down right smilingly.


Scheme AABB XXCC DDBB
Poetic Form Quatrain  (67%)
Metre 11010101 11010111 11110101 11110100 101111 101100 1010101 0110101 11110111 1101111 11110111 11111100
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 410
Words 72
Sentences 5
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 107
Words per stanza (avg) 23
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

22 sec read
354

Sidney Lanier

Sidney Lanier was a poet, writer, composer, critic, professor of literature at Johns Hopkins and first flutist with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra in Baltiimore. He wrote the Centennial cantata for the opening ceremony of the 1876 Centennial celebration in Philadelphia. more…

All Sidney Lanier poems | Sidney Lanier Books

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