Analysis of The Aquittal Of Phryne

Alfred Austin 1835 (Leeds) – 1913 (Ashford)



When Athens challenged Phryne to confess
Eleusis' self sufficed not to appal
Her impious tread, and, throned within their Hall,
The awful judges frowned on her distress,
Slowly her lovely limbs she did undress,
Swathe upon swathe, fold after fold, let fall,
Until she stood, absolved, before them all,
Clad in her clear convincing nakedness.
So when the slaves of custom would control
Your range of feeling and your realm of thought,
And close you half the world who claim the whole,
Show them your inmost self, keep back not aught,
By your mind's beauty be their bias bought,
And sway by bare simplicity of soul.


Scheme ABBAABBABCBCDB
Poetic Form
Metre 110101101 1101111 00101010111 0101011001 1001011101 1011110111 0111010111 10010101 1101110101 1111001111 0111011101 111111111 1111011101 0111010011
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 608
Words 108
Sentences 3
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 488
Words per stanza (avg) 106
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

32 sec read
66

Alfred Austin

Alfred Austin DL was an English poet who was appointed Poet Laureate in 1896 upon the death of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. more…

All Alfred Austin poems | Alfred Austin Books

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