Analysis of R. S. S.
William Cowper 1731 (Berkhamsted) – 1800 (Dereham)
All-worshipped Gold! thou mighty mystery
Say by what name shall I address thee rather,
Our blessing, or our bane? Without thy aid,
The generous pangs of pity but distress
The human heart, that fain would feel the bliss
Of blessing others; and, enslaved by thee,
Far from relieving woes which others feel,
Misers oppress themselves. Our blessings then
With virtue when possessed; without, our bane.
If in my bosom unperceived there lurk
The deep-sown seeds of avarice or ambition,
Blame me, ye great ones, (for I scorn your censure),
But let the generous and the good commend me;
That to my Delia I direct them all,
The worthiest object of a virtuous love.
Oh! to some distant scene, a willing exile
From the wild uproar of this busy world,
Were it my fate with Delia to retire;
With her to wander through the sylvan shade,
Each morn, or o'er the moss-embrowned turf,
Where, blessed as the prime parents of mankind
In their own Eden, we should envy none;
But, greatly pitying whom the world calls happy,
Gently spin out the silken thread of life;
While from her lips attentive I receive
The tenderest dictates of the purest flame,
And from her eyes (where soft complacence sits
Illumined with the radiant beams of sense),
Tranquility beyond a monarch's reach.
Forgive me, Heaven, this only avarice
My soul indulges; I confess the crime,
(If to esteem, to covet such perfection
Be criminal,) oh, grant me Delia! grant me wealth;
Wealth to alleviate, not increase my wants;
And grant me virtue, without which nor wealth
Nor Delia can avail to make me blessed.
Scheme | ABCDEAFGHIJBAKLMNOCPQJARSTUVWXYJZ1 Z2 |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101110100 1111111110 101011010111 01001110101 0101111101 1101000111 1101011101 10010110101 11010101101 10110111 011111001010 11111111110 110100001011 1111010111 010010101001 1111010101 101111101 0111110101 1011010101 111100111 1110110111 0111011101 110100101110 1011010111 1101010101 010110101 01011111 01010100111 010001011 01110110100 1101010101 11011101010 110011110111 1101010111 0111001111 1101011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,532 |
Words | 273 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 36 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,226 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 270 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 1:22 min read
- 177 Views
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"R. S. S." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/40078/r.-s.-s.>.
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