Analysis of Lines Addressed From London, To Sara And S.T.C. At Bristol, In The Summer Of 1796
Charles Lamb 1775 (Inner Temple, London) – 1834 (Edmonton, London)
Was it so hard a thing? I did but ask
A fleeting holiday, a little week.
What if the jaded steer who all day long
Had borne the heat and burthen of the plough,
When evening came, and her sweet cooling hour,
Should seek to wander in a neighbour copse,
Where greener herbage waved, or clearer streams
Invited him to slake his burning thirst?
The man were crabbed who should say him nay,
The man were churlish who should drive him thence.
A blessing light upon your worthy heads,
Ye hospitable pair! I may not come
To catch, on Clifden's heights, the summer gale;
I may not come to taste the Avon wave;
Or, with mine eye intent on Redcliffe towers,
To muse in tears on that mysterious youth,
Cruelly slighted, who, in evil hour,
Shaped his adventurous course to London walls!
Complaint, be gone! and, ominous thoughts, away!
Take up, my song, take up a merrier strain;
For yet again, and lo! from Avon's vales,
Another minstrel cometh. Youth endeared,
God and good angels guide thee on thy road,
And gentler fortunes wait the friends I love.
Scheme | XXXXABBXCB BXXXBXABCXBXXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111011111 010100101 1101011111 110101101 11010011010 111100011 110111101 0101111101 010111111 0101011111 0101011101 1110011111 111110101 1111110101 1111011110 11011101001 1010101010 11010011101 01110100101 11111101001 1101011101 0101010101 1011011111 0101010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,023 |
Words | 190 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 14 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 405 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 94 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 57 sec read
- 118 Views
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"Lines Addressed From London, To Sara And S.T.C. At Bristol, In The Summer Of 1796" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/5349/lines-addressed-from-london%2C-to-sara-and-s.t.c.-at-bristol%2C-in-the-summer-of-1796>.
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