Analysis of Of My Lady Isabella Playing on the Lute
Edmund Waller 1606 (Coleshill) – 1687
Such moving sounds from such a careless touch,
So unconcerned herself, and we so much!
What art is this, that with so little pains
Transports us thus, and o'er the spirit reigns?
The trembling strings about her fingers crowd
And tell their joy for every kiss aloud.
Small force there needs to make them tremble so;
Touched by that hand, who would not tremble too?
Here love takes stand, and while she charms the ear,
Empties his quiver on the listening deer:
Music so softens and disarms the mind
That not an arrow does resistance find.
Thus the fair tyrant celebrates the prize,
And acts herself the the triumph of her eyes.
So Nero once with harp in hand surveyed
His flaming Rome, and as it burned he played.
Scheme | AABBCCDEFGHHIIJJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101110101 101010111 1111111101 01110100101 01001010101 01111100101 1111111101 1111111101 1111011101 10110101001 101100101 1111010101 101101001 01010010101 1101110101 1101011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 719 |
Words | 131 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 16 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 564 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 129 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 99 Views
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"Of My Lady Isabella Playing on the Lute" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/9316/of-my-lady-isabella-playing-on-the-lute>.
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