Analysis of Love of Fame, The Universal Passion (excerpt)
Edward Young 1681 (Upham) – 1765 (Welwyn)
Man's rich with little, were his judgment true;
Nature is frugal, and her wants are few;
Those few wants answer'd, bring sincere delights;
But fools create themselves new appetites:
Fancy and pride seek things at vast expense,
Which relish not to reason, nor to sense.
When surfeit, or unthankfulness, destroys,
In nature's narrow sphere, our solid joys,
In fancy's airy land of noise and show,
Where nought but dreams, no real pleasures grow;
Like cats in air-pumps, to subsist we strive
On joys too thin to keep the soul alive.
Lemira's sick; make haste; the doctor call:
He comes; but where's his patient? At the ball.
The doctor stares; her woman curt'sies low,
And cries, "My lady, sir, is always so:
Diversions put her maladies to flight;
True, she can't stand, but she can dance all night:
I've known my lady (for she loves a tune)
For fevers take an opera in June:
And, though perhaps you'll think the practice bold,
A midnight park is sovereign for a cold:
With colics, breakfasts of green fruit agree;
With indigestions, supper just at three."
A strange alternative, replied Sir Hans,
Must women have a doctor, or a dance?
Though sick to death, abroad they safely roam,
But droop and die, in perfect health, at home:
For want--but not of health, are ladies ill;
And tickets cure beyond the doctor's bill.
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFFGGEEHHIIJJKKLMNNOO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) Etheree (20%) |
Metre | 1111001101 1011000111 1111010101 110101110 1001111101 1101110111 1101101 01010110101 011011101 111111101 1101110111 1111110101 11110101 1111110101 0101010111 011101111 0101010011 1111111111 1111011101 110111001 0101110101 011110101 111011101 1110111 0101000111 1101010101 1111011101 1101001111 1111111101 0101010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,351 |
Words | 231 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 30 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,013 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 228 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 31, 2023
- 1:12 min read
- 67 Views
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"Love of Fame, The Universal Passion (excerpt)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/9915/love-of-fame%2C-the-universal-passion-%28excerpt%29>.
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