Analysis of An Ode, On Reading Mr. Richardson's History Of Sir Charles Grandison
Say, ye apostate and profane,
Wretches, who blush not to disdain
Allegiance to your God,--
Did e'er your idly wasted love
Of virtue for her sake remove
And lift you from the crowd?
Would you the race of glory run,
Know, the devout, and they alone,
Are equal to the task:
The labours of the illustrious course
Far other than the unaided force
Of human vigour ask,
To arm against reputed ill
The patient heart too brave to feel
The tortures of despair:
Nor safer yet high-crested pride,
When wealth flows in with every tide
To gain admittance there.
To rescue from the tyrant’s sword
The oppress'd; unseen and unimplored,
To cheer the face of woe;
From lawless insult to defend
An orphan's right—a fallen friend,
And a forgiven foe;
These, these distinguish from the crowd,
And these alone, the great and good,
The guardians of mankind;
Whose bosoms with these virtues heave,
O with what matchless speed they leave
The multitude behind!
Then ask ye, from what cause on earth
Virtues like these derive their birth?
Derived from Heaven alone,
Full on that favour’d breast they shine,
Where faith and resignation join
To call the blessing down.
Such is that heart:--but while the muse
Thy theme, O Richardson, pursues,
Her feeble spirits faint;
She cannot reach, and would not wrong,
The subject for an angel’s song,
The hero, and the saint!
Scheme | AABXXC XDEFFE XXGHHG XBIJJI CXKLLK MMDXXX NNOPPO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010001 1111101 010111 110110101 11010101 011101 11011101 10010101 110101 011001001 110100101 11011 11010101 01011111 010101 11011101 111011001 110101 11010101 0010101 110111 11001101 1110101 000101 11010101 01010101 0100111 1111101 1111111 01001 11111111 10110111 0111001 1111111 1100101 110101 11111101 11110001 010101 11010111 00111101 010001 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,312 |
Words | 236 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 42 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 150 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 33 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:11 min read
- 74 Views
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"An Ode, On Reading Mr. Richardson's History Of Sir Charles Grandison" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/39813/an-ode%2C-on-reading-mr.-richardson%27s-history-of-sir-charles-grandison>.
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