Analysis of Hypochondriacus
Charles Lamb 1775 (Inner Temple, London) – 1834 (Edmonton, London)
By myself walking,
To myself talking,
When as I ruminate
On my untoward fate,
Scarcely seem I
Alone sufficiently,
Black thoughts continually
Crowding my privacy;
They come unbidden,
Like foes at a wedding,
Thrusting their faces
In better guests' places,
Peevish and malecontent,
Clownish, impertinent,
Dashing the merriment:
So in like fashions
Dim cogitations
Follow and haunt me,
Striving to daunt me,
In my heart festering,
In my ears whispering,
'Thy friends are treacherous,
'Thy foes are dangerous,
'Thy dreams ominous.'
Fierce Anthropophagi,
Spectre, Diaboli,
What scared St. Antony,
Hobgoblins, Lemures,
Dreams of Antipodes,
Night-riding Incubi
Troubling the fantasy,
All dire illusions
Causing confusions;
Figments heretical,
Scruples fantastical,
Doubts diabolical,
Abaddon vexeth me,
Mahu perplexeth me,
Lucifer teareth me-
Jesu! Maria! liberate nos ab his diris tentationibus Inimici.
Scheme | AABBXCCCXADDBXBEDCCAAFFF XCCDDXCEEGCGCCC D |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (25%) Tetractys (23%) |
Metre | 1110 1110 11110 110011 1011 010100 1101000 101100 111 111010 10110 010110 1001 10100 1001 10110 11 10011 10111 011100 011100 111100 111100 11100 11 101 111100 11 111 1101 1000100 11010 10010 100100 101 10100 111 111 10011 101010111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 865 |
Words | 131 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 24, 15, 1 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 18 |
Words per line (avg) | 3 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 242 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 43 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 124 Views
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"Hypochondriacus" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/5346/hypochondriacus>.
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