Analysis of The Task: Book II, The Time-Piece (excerpts)
William Cowper 1731 (Berkhamsted) – 1800 (Dereham)
England, with all thy faults, I love thee still--
My country! and, while yet a nook is left
Where English minds and manners may be found,
Shall be constrain'd to love thee. Though thy clime
Be fickle, and thy year most part deform'd
With dripping rains, or wither'd by a frost,
I would not yet exchange thy sullen skies,
And fields without a flow'r, for warmer France
With all her vines; nor for Ausonia's groves
Of golden fruitage, and her myrtle bow'rs.
To shake thy senate, and from heights sublime
Of patriot eloquence to flash down fire
Upon thy foes, was never meant my task:
But I can feel thy fortunes, and partake
Thy joys and sorrows, with as true a heart
As any thund'rer there. And I can feel
Thy follies, too; and with a just disdain
Frown at effeminates, whose very looks
Reflect dishonour on the land I love.
How, in the name of soldiership and sense,
Should England prosper, when such things, as smooth
And tender as a girl, all essenc'd o'er
With odours, and as profligate as sweet;
Who sell their laurel for a myrtle wreath,
And love when they should fight; when such as these
Presume to lay their hand upon the ark
Of her magnificent and awful cause?
Time was when it was praise and boast enough
In ev'ry clime, and travel where we might,
That we were born her children. Praise enough
To fill th' ambition of a private man,
That Chatham's language was his mother tongue,
And Wolfe's great name compatriot with his own.
Farewell those honours, and farewell with them
The hope of such hereafter! They have fall'n
Each in his field of glory; one in arms,
And one in council--Wolfe upon the lap
Of smiling victory that moment won,
And Chatham heart-sick of his country's shame!
They made us many soldiers. Chatham, still
Consulting England's happiness at home,
Secur'd it by an unforgiving frown
If any wrong'd her. Wolfe, where'er he fought,
Put so much of his heart into his act,
That his example had a magnet's force,
And all were swift to follow whom all lov'd.
Those suns are set. Oh, rise some other such!
Or all that we have left is empty talk
Of old achievements, and despair of new....
There is a pleasure in poetic pains
Which only poets know. The shifts and turns,
Th' expedients and inventions multiform
To which the mind resorts in chase of terms
Thought apt, yet coy, and difficult to win,
T' arrest the fleeting images that fill
The mirror of the mind, and hold them fast,
And force them sit, till he has pencill'd off
A faithful likeness of the forms he views;
Then to dispose his copies with such art
That each may find its most propitious light,
And shine by situation hardly less
Than by the labour and the skill it cost,
Are occupations of the poet's mind
So pleasing, and that steal away the thought
With such address from themes of sad import,
That, lost in his own musings, happy man!
He feels th' anxieties of life, denied
Their wonted entertainment, all retire.
Such joys has he that sings. But ah! not such,
Or seldom such, the hearers of his song.
Fastidious, or else listless, or perhaps
Aware of nothing arduous in a task
They never undertook, they little note
His dangers or escapes, and haply find
Their least amusement where he found the most.
But is amusement all? Studious of song,
And yet ambitious not to sing in vain,
I would not trifle merely, though the world
Be loudest in their praise who do no more.
Yet what can satire, whether grave or gay?
It may correct a foible, may chastise
The freaks of fashion, regulate the dress,
Retrench a sword-blade, or displace a patch;
But where are its sublimer trophies found?
What vice has it subdu'd? whose heart reclaim'd
By rigour, or whom laugh'd into reform?
Alas! Leviathan is not so tam'd.
Laugh'd at, he laughs again; and, stricken hard,
Turns to the stroke his adamantine scales,
That fear no discipline of human hands.
The pulpit, therefore, (and I name it fill'd
With solemn awe, that bids me well beware
With what intent I touch that holy thing)--
The pulpit (when the satirist has at last,
Strutting and vapouring in an empty school,
Spent all his force, and made no proselyte)--
I say the pulpit (in the sober use
Of its legitimate, peculiar pow'rs)
Must stand acknowledg'd, while the world shall stand,
The most important and effectual guard,
Scheme | ABCDXXEXXEDFGXHXIXXXXFXXXXXJKJLXXDXXXXDADXMXXXNXX XXDXXAOXXHKPXQMXLXXNRXGXQXRIXXXEPXCSDSTXXXXXOXBXEXT |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 1011111111 1100110111 1101010111 1101111111 1100111101 1101110101 1111011101 01010111101 11011111 110100101 1111001101 110010011110 0111110111 1111110001 1101011101 110110111 1101010101 1111101 01110111 10011101 1101011111 0101011110 11011011 1111010101 0111111111 0111110101 1001000101 1111110101 011010111 1101010101 111101010101 111011101 01110100111 1110111 01110101111 1011110101 0101010101 1101001101 0101111101 1111010101 0101010011 0111100101 1101011011 1111110111 1101010101 0101110111 1111111101 1111111101 1101000111 1101000101 1101010101 11100101 1101010111 1111010011 10101010011 0101010111 011111111 0101010111 1101110111 1111110101 011010101 110100111 101010101 1100110101 111111101 1101110101 111101001101 11010101 1111111111 1101010111 01001110101 01110100001 110011101 110101011 1101011101 11010110011 0101011101 1111010101 1100111111 1111010111 1101010101 011101001 0101110101 11111101 1111011101 111110101 0101001111 1111010101 1101111 1111001101 010101111 1101111101 1101111101 01010100111 100101101 11110111 1101000101 1101000101 1101010111 01010011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 4,376 |
Words | 762 |
Sentences | 33 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 49, 51 |
Lines Amount | 100 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,657 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 381 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 3:57 min read
- 129 Views
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"The Task: Book II, The Time-Piece (excerpts)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/40186/the-task%3A-book-ii%2C-the-time-piece-%28excerpts%29>.
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