Analysis of Ye Old Mule

Sir Thomas Wyatt 1503 (Allington Castle, Kent) – 1542 (Clifton Maybank House, Dorset)



Ye old mule that think yourself so fair,
Leave off with craft your beauty to repair,
For it is true, without any fable,
No man setteth more by riding in your saddle.
Too much travail so do your train appair.
        Ye old mule

With false savour though you deceive th'air,
Whoso taste you shall well perceive your lair
Savoureth somewhat of a Kappurs stable.
        Ye old mule

Ye must now serve to market and to fair,
All for the burden, for panniers a pair.
For since gray hairs been powdered in your sable,
The thing ye seek for, you must yourself enable
To purchase it by payment and by prayer,
        Ye old mule.


Scheme aabbaC aabC aabbaC
Poetic Form
Metre 111110111 1111110101 1111011010 11111100110 110111111 111 1111101111 111110111 11110110 111 1111110011 110101101 11111100110 011111101010 1101110011 111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 616
Words 115
Sentences 6
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 6, 4, 6
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 29
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 156
Words per stanza (avg) 38
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 01, 2023

34 sec read
109

Sir Thomas Wyatt

Sir Thomas Wyatt was a 16th-century English politician, ambassador, and lyric poet credited with introducing the sonnet to English literature. more…

All Sir Thomas Wyatt poems | Sir Thomas Wyatt Books

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