Analysis of Envy

Charles Lamb 1775 (Inner Temple, London) – 1834 (Edmonton, London)



This rose-tree is not made to bear
The violet blue, nor lily fair,
Nor the sweet mignonette:
And if this tree were discontent,
Or wished to change its natural bent,
It all in vain would fret.

And should it fret, you would suppose
It ne'er had seen its own red rose,
Nor after gentle shower
Had ever smelled its rose's scent,
Or it could ne'er be discontent
With its own pretty flower.

Like such a blind and senseless tree
As I've imagined this to be,
All envious persons are:
With care and culture all may find
Some pretty flower in their own mind,
Some talent that is rare.


Scheme AABBBB CCDBBD EEXBBA
Poetic Form
Metre 11111111 010011101 1011 01110001 111111001 110111 01111101 11111111 1101010 11011101 11111001 1111010 11010101 11010111 1100101 11010111 110100111 110111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 565
Words 110
Sentences 4
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 18
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 149
Words per stanza (avg) 36
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

34 sec read
70

Charles Lamb

Charles Lamb was an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian, best known for his Essays of Elia and for the children's book Tales from Shakespeare, co-authored with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764–1847). Friends with such literary luminaries as Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, William Wordsworth, and William Hazlitt, Lamb was at the centre of a major literary circle in England. He has been referred to by E. V. Lucas, his principal biographer, as "the most lovable figure in English literature". more…

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