Analysis of A Fragment Of A Poem.

Alexander Pope 1688 (London) – 1744 (Twickenham)



O Wretched B----,[90] jealous now of all,
What god, what mortal shall prevent thy fall?
Turn, turn thy eyes from wicked men in place,
And see what succour from the patriot race.
C----,[91] his own proud dupe, thinks monarchs things
Made just for him, as other fools for kings;
Controls, decides, insults thee every hour,
And antedates the hatred due to power.

Through clouds of passion P----'s[92] views are clear;
He foams a patriot to subside a peer;
Impatient sees his country bought and sold,
And damns the market where he takes no gold.

Grave, righteous S----[93] jogs on till, past belief,
He finds himself companion with a thief.

To purge and let thee blood with fire and sword,
Is all the help stern S----[94] would afford.

That those who bind and rob thee would not kill,
Good C----[95] hopes, and candidly sits still.

Of Ch---s W----[96] who speaks at all,
No more than of Sir Har--y or Sir P----.[97]
Whose names once up, they thought it was not wrong
To lie in bed, but sure they lay too long.

G---r, C---m, B---t,[98] pay thee due regards,
Unless the ladies bid them mind their cards.
with wit that must
And C---d[99] who speaks so well and writes,
Whom (saving W.) every S. harper bites,
must needs,
Whose wit and ... equally provoke one,
Finds thee, at best, the butt to crack his joke on.

As for the rest, each winter up they run,
And all are clear, and something must be done.
Then urged by C---t,[100] or by C---t stopp'd,
Inflamed by P----,[101] and by P---- dropp'd;
They follow reverently each wondrous wight,
Amazed that one can read, that one can write:
So geese to gander prone obedience keep,
Hiss, if he hiss, and if he slumber, sleep.
Till having done whate'er was fit or fine,
Utter'd a speech, and ask'd their friends to dine;
Each hurries back to his paternal ground,
Content but for five shillings in the pound,
Yearly defeated, yearly hopes they give,
And all agree Sir Robert cannot live.

Rise, rise, great W----,[102] fated to appear,
Spite of thyself a glorious minister!
Speak the loud language princes ...
And treat with half the ...
At length to B---- kind as to thy ...
Espouse the nation, you ...

What can thy H---[103] ...
Dress in Dutch ...

Though still he travels on no bad pretence,
To shew ...

Or those foul copies of thy face and tongue,
Veracious W----[104] and frontless Young;[105]
Sagacious Bub,[106] so late a friend, and there
So late a foe, yet more sagacious H----?[107]
Hervey and Hervey's school, F----, H---y,[108] H---n[109]
Yea, moral Ebor,[110] or religious Winton.
How! what can O---w,[111] what can D----,
The wisdom of the one and other chair,
N----[112] laugh, or D---s[113] sager,
Or thy dread truncheon M----'s[114] mighty peer?
What help from J----'s[115] opiates canst thou draw,
Or H---k's[116] quibbles voted into law?

C----,[117] that Roman in his nose alone,
Who hears all causes, B----,[118] but thy own,
Or those proud fools whom nature, rank, and fate
Made fit companions for the sword of state.

Can the light packhorse, or the heavy steer,
The sowzing prelate, or the sweating peer,
Drag out, with all its dirt and all its weight,
The lumbering carriage of thy broken state?
Alas! the people curse, the carman swears,
The drivers quarrel, and the master stares.

The plague is on thee, Britain, and who tries
To save thee, in the infectious office dies.
The first firm P---y soon resign'd his breath,
Brave S---w[119] loved thee, and was lied to death.
Good M-m-t's[120] fate tore P---th[121] from thy side,
And thy last sigh was heard when W---m[122] died.

Thy nobles sl---s,[123] thy se---s[124] bought with gold
Thy clergy perjured, thy whole people sold.
An atheist [symbol] a [symbol]'s ad ... [125]
Blotch thee all o'er, and sink ...

Alas! on one alone our all relies,
Let him be honest, and he must be wise,
Let him no trifler from his school,
Nor like his ... still a ...
Be but a man! unminister'd, alone,
And free at once the senate and the throne;
Esteem the public love his best supply,
A [symbol]'s[126] true glory his integrity:
Rich with his ... in his ... strong,
Affect no conquest, but endure no wrong.
Whatever his religion[127] or his blood,
His public virtue makes his title good.
Europe's just balance and our own may stand,
And one man's honesty redeem the land.


Scheme AABBCCDD EEFF GG HH II AJKK LLXMMXNX NNOOPPQQRRSSXX EDXTUV JX BV XKWJNNXWDEYY ZZ1 1 EE1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 FFJX 3 3 XTZZUXKKXX6 6
Poetic Form Etheree  (22%)
Tetractys  (20%)
Metre 11011110111 1111010111 1111110101 0111101001 1111111111 1111110111 01101110010 010101110 11110111111 11010010101 0101110101 0101011111 110111111101 1101010101 11011111001 11011111101 1111011111 11111010011 111100111111 11111111111 1111111111 1101111111 111111111101 0101011111 1111 0111111101 1101001001101 11 110100011 11110111111 1101110111 0111010111 11111111111 0111110111 11010001101 0111111111 11110101001 1111011101 1101101111 1001011111 1101110101 1011110001 1001010111 0101110101 1111001110101 1110100100 1011010 01110 11111111 010101 11111 101 111101111 11 1111011101 110011011 111110101 110111111 01011111111 11011101010 111111111 0101010101 1111111110 11110111101 111111100111 11111010011 11111001101 11110111111 1111110101 1101010111 101110101 011010101 1111110111 01001011101 0101010101 0101000101 0111110011 11100010101 0111110111 11111101111 1111111111111 0111111100111 1101111111111 1101011101 110010111 1111001 01110110101 1111001111 1111111 11110 1101101 0111010001 0101011101 01111010100 111011 0111010111 10111111 1101011101 10110010111 0111000101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 4,209
Words 765
Sentences 49
Stanzas 17
Stanza Lengths 8, 4, 2, 2, 2, 4, 8, 14, 6, 2, 2, 12, 4, 6, 6, 4, 14
Lines Amount 100
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 186
Words per stanza (avg) 44
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Submitted on August 03, 2020

Modified on March 05, 2023

3:55 min read
15

Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope (1688-1744) is regarded as one of the greatest English poets, and the foremost poet of the early eighteenth century. He is best known for his satirical and discursive poetry, including The Rape of the Lock, The Dunciad, and An Essay on Criticism, as well as for his translation of Homer. more…

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