Analysis of On My Wife's Birth-Day

Christopher Smart 1722 (Shipbourne) – 1771 (King's Bench Prison)



'Tis Nancy's birth-day--raise your strains,
Ye nymphs of the Parnassian plains,
And sing with more than usual glee
To Nancy, who was born for me.

Tell the blythe Graces as they bound,
Luxuriant in the buxom round;
They're not more elegantly free,
Than Nancy, who was born for me.

Tell royal Venus, tho' she rove,
The queen of the immortal grove,
That she must share her golden fee
With Nancy, who was born for me.

Tell Pallas, tho' th'Athenian school,
And ev'ry trite pedantic fool,
On her to place the palm agree,
'Tis Nancy's, who was born for me.

Tell spotless Dian, tho' she range,
The regent of the up-land grange,
In chastity she yields to thee,
O Nancy, who was born for me.

Tell Cupid, Hymen, and tell Jove,
With all the pow'rs of life and love,
That I'd disdain to breathe or be,
If Nancy was not born for me.


Scheme AABB CCBB DDBB EEBB FFBB DXBB
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 11011111 111011 011111001 11011111 10110111 010000101 11110001 11011111 11010111 01100101 11110101 11011111 11011101001 0110101 10110101 11011111 11010111 01010111 01001111 11011111 11010011 11011101 11011111 11011111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 826
Words 154
Sentences 7
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 103
Words per stanza (avg) 25
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 09, 2023

48 sec read
56

Christopher Smart

Christopher Smart, also known as "Kit Smart", "Kitty Smart", and "Jack Smart", was an English poet. more…

All Christopher Smart poems | Christopher Smart Books

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