Analysis of A Manual, More Ancient Than The Art Of Printing, And Not To Be Found In Any Catalogue
William Cowper 1731 (Berkhamsted) – 1800 (Dereham)
There is a book, which we may call
(Its excellence is such)
Alone a library, though small;
The ladies thumb it much.
Words none, things numerous it contains:
And thing with words compared,
Who needs be told, that has his brains,
Which merits most regard?
Ofttimes its leaves of scarlet hue
A golden edging boast;
And open’d, it displays to view
Twelve pages at the most.
Nor name, nor title, stamp’d behind,
Adorns its outer part;
But all within ‘tis richly lined,
A magazine of art.
The whitest hands that secret hoard
Oft visit: and the fair
Preserve it in their bosoms stored,
As with a miser’s care.
Thence implements of every size,
And form’d for various use
(They need but to consult their eyes),
They readily produce.
The largest and the longest kind
Possess the foremost page;
A sort most needed by the blind,
Or nearly such, from age.
The full charged leaf which next ensues,
Presents in bright array
The smaller sort, which matrons use,
Not quite so blind as they.
The third, the fourth, the fifth supply
What their occasions ask,
Who with a more discerning eye
Perform a nicer task.
But still with regular decrease,
From size to size they fall,
In every leaf grow less and less;
The last are least of all.
Oh! what a fund of genius, pent
In narrow space is here!
This volume’s method and intent
How luminous and clear!
It leaves no reader at a loss
Or posed, whoever reads:
No commentator’s tedious gloss,
Nor even index needs.
Search Bodley’s many thousands o’er!
No book is treasured there,
Nor yet in Granta’s numerous store,
That may with this compare.
No!—rival none in either host
Of this was ever seen,
Or, that contents could justly boast,
So brilliant and so keen.
Scheme | ABAB CXCX DEDE FGFG HIHI JKJK FLFL XMKM NONO XAXA PXPX QRQR IIXI ESES |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (86%) |
Metre | 11011111 110011 0101011 010111 111100101 011101 11111111 110101 1111101 010101 0110111 110101 11110101 011101 11011101 01011 01011101 110001 0110111 110101 110011001 0111001 11110111 110001 01000101 01011 01110101 110111 01111101 100101 01011101 111111 01010101 110101 11010101 010101 11110001 111111 010011101 011111 11011101 010111 11010001 110001 11110101 110101 11001001 110101 1110101 111101 11011001 111101 11010101 111101 11101101 110011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,659 |
Words | 303 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 14 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 56 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 94 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 21 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 1:30 min read
- 115 Views
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"A Manual, More Ancient Than The Art Of Printing, And Not To Be Found In Any Catalogue" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/39789/a-manual%2C-more-ancient-than-the-art-of-printing%2C-and-not-to-be-found-in-any-catalogue>.
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